


A Weed in a Garden of Flowers

by Chewmunch



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Blood and Gore, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Non-Binary Chara, Non-Binary Frisk, Non-Binary Monster Kid, Original Character(s), Other, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you.", References to Undertale Genocide Route, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2020-10-29 16:16:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20799461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chewmunch/pseuds/Chewmunch
Summary: The world is a garden. A garden of flowers. But as per any garden, there will always be weeds, and that was something Frisk was all too aware of.*Discontinued*





	1. Let's Return Home Together

**Author's Note:**

> Heya, first released fic I guess. Updates will be infrequent since I'm school still, but I'll try to get them out as soon as possible. This is essentially an intro kinda, to get y'all settle in to this au type thing. Enjoy the fic I guess  
Scene pic -> http://fav.me/ddh3b5d

The Ruins had always felt calm to Frisk but it felt even more serene with the full completion of their Pacifist run. It would be the third time this run that they had walked through it all the way back to the beginning to where it all started.

Their left leg squeaked slightly with each step, signifying to the human that they needed to repair their prosthesis as it also caused some discomfort as they walked. Heading through the large archway, Frisk continued across the small patch of grass, where they had first met Flowey.

_ “You remember the flower you met here,”  _ a German accented voice spoke in the human’s head,  _ “the memories that once struck you fear, now fill you with a sense of sadness…” _

Frisk sighed, feeling that pang of grief rip through their chest.  _ ‘You had to remind me huh, Chara?’ _

_ “Sorry,”  _ their mental friend apologized.  _ “Just calling it like I see it… or feeling it I guess.” _

“I haven’t been back here in a long while,” the Froggit on their shoulder ribbitted, looking around with nostalgia gleaming in her eyes.

Frisk smiled to the small monster. “I can imagine. The Ruins is where you grew up, Tares.”

Tares was white in colouration like the other Froggits in the Underground but unlike the others, she had light purple stripes on her body that were almost just as bright as her skin. Two stripes ran across her back, and there was one ring around each of her front paws’ wrist.

She sat comfortably on the human’s shoulder, and rested cozily in the hood of their cloak. The cloak that Frisk wore over their shoulders was an off white in colouration and was burned jaggedy at the bottom. Over all, the cloak was quite a bit too large for the young human child, but the sentimental attachment they had to it was too strong for them to care.

Around the large hood of the garment - where it attached to the shoulders of the cloak - were dark green dragon-scale like shoulder pads that were blackened around the edges, similar to the bottom of the cloak.

Their walk continued past the patch of grass and through the next archway that lead them to the room they had fallen into. So many memories rushed back to them and they took a moment to reflect. 

This was the room they where they would always start at whenever they would reset. The memories of their previous runs rampaged in their mind, and a sharp pain split their head open. Frisk groaned, slamming a hand to their face, and felt the pain subside as the memories faded with it.

They heard Chara hum in their head.  _ “How about you do not think about those, hmm?” _

_ ‘Right,’ _ Frisk nodded, and continued to the bed of golden flowers where they had fallen down. Nothing had changed here, except for one thing.

“Asriel?” Frisk called. 

The goat monster turned around to see the human and smiled sadly. “Don’t worry about me. Someone has to take care of these flowers.”

Frisk walked over to sit on the other side of the flowerbed and stretched out their left leg, to relieve the discomfort from the damaged prosthesis. They stared down at the plants until Asriel spoke up again.

“Frisk, please leave me alone. I can’t come back. I just can’t ok?” He shook his head solemnly. “I don’t want to break their hearts all over again. It’s better if they never see me.”

The human took a deep breath, and gently ran their hands through the soft flowers that saved their life and preserved the monsters chance to see the Surface. 

“Why are you still here?” Asriel asked, catching the human’s attention. He paused. “Frisk…” he took another moment, possibly hesitating on what he wanted to say. “Hey. Let me ask you a question. Frisk. Why did you come here? Everyone knows the legend, right...? ‘Travelers who climb Mt. Ebott are said to disappear’.”

He paused again, shifting a little on the ground. “Frisk… why would you ever climb a mountain like that? Was it foolishness? Was it fate? Or was it…” he hesitated, “because you...?” he trailed off, seemingly unsure if he should finish the sentence.

Frisk visibly reared back, looking somewhat uncomfortable. They shuffled slightly, and Tares jumped off their shoulder to hug their side fondly in an attempt to help take their mind off of that reason.

Asriel sighed. “Well… only you know the answer, don’t you...?” 

The human nodded, and gently patted the Froggit that was still at their side on her back. Frisk and Asriel continued on with their conversation. He told them about Chara, and throughout his telling, the human’s ghost friend was completely silent. In fact, Chara was quiet ever since Frisk started to interact with Asriel. There was worry at the back of Frisk’s mind about why, but they could only assume it was because they were talking with the deceased human’s adoptive brother and best friend. 

“Frisk, thank you for listening to me,” Asriel thanked, bowing his head slightly. “You should really go be with your friends now, ok? Oh, and please… in the future, if you uh, see me… don't think of it as me, ok?” He smiled slightly. “I just want you to remember me like this. Someone that was your friend for a little while.”

Frisk nodded. “Of course. I understand.”

“Oh, and Frisk…” the young boss monster paused, “be careful in the outside world, ok? Despite what everyone thinks, it's not as nice as it is here. There are a lot of Floweys out there. And not everything can be resolved by just being nice,” he looked saddened at having to admit that truth.

He smiled again, hope shining in his green eyes. “Frisk… don’t kill and don’t be killed, alright? That’s the best you can strive for.”

There was another moment of silence between the boss monster and human. The only sounds that broke that silence was the distant singing of birds, and the wind gently howling above. Asriel was tending the flowers with a smile on his face, but Frisk could see the longing and sadness in his eyes.

_ ‘If only he could go see the others,’  _ they thought, lowering their head.  _ ‘I’m sure there’s many monsters that would love to see him again. Especially Asgore and Toriel.’ _

Frisk sighed, and stretched their legs as Tares jumped back onto their shoulder. They stood up, and looked down at the monster, anguish tearing through them.

Asriel looked up, his smile widening slightly with sorrow. “Oh, I guess you’re leaving huh? Well,” he laughed weakly, “I guess I’ll see you when I’m a flower again,” he waved farewell. “Goodbye, Frisk.”

Frisk waved back to the monster with a smile. “Goodbye, Asriel.”

Once Frisk started to turn towards the archway, Chara’s voice spoke up in their head somberly.  _ “Goodbye, brother…”  _

_ ‘I’m sorry, Chara,’  _ Frisk apologized mentally.  _ ‘You truly did love him, didn’t you?’ _

Chara hummed.  _ “That… yes. Yes I did. The whole Dreemur family. I loved them,”  _ the ghost human paused.  _ “I just wish our plan worked. I wish they did not have to suffer for so long. I wish my family didn’t have to suffer for so long. I just...” _ there was a pause as Chara let out a sob they were supposedly holding back,  _ “I just wish I could be with them again…” _

_ ‘I know. I know and I fully understand,’  _ Frisk paused, staring at the archway that lead to the Ruins. They opened their mouth to speak with their voice. “I know better than most how that sense of longing feels. To want to bring someone or something back but you… just can’t. No matter what you try or do.”

Chara sniffed, but it sounded like they were trying to make it inaudible. _ “Right… there’s nothing that any of us can do. Even with all this determination…” _

_ ‘Come on, cheer up,’ _ Frisk bounded a bit, strolling at a brisk pace through the Ruins.  _ ‘I wanna get back to Waterfall on a higher note than this.’ _

_ “If this note goes any higher, it will be sharp,”  _ Chara was silent for a second but then sounded like they were poorly trying to hide laughter.

Frisk started to laugh as well, possibly looking insane as they were laughing, at what seemed like to others, nothing.  _ ‘Did you just make a joke and laugh at it?’ _

_ “Ha! Shut it, Frisky.” _

The human could sense the smile on their ghost friend’s face and continued through the gate to Snowdin. They were more than glad that they were able to lift the mood. They wanted to get back to Waterfall as fast as they could, but their pace was slower than they would have liked with the discomfort from their damaged prosthesis. 

_ “Despite the pain and soreness from your damaged pseudo-limb,”  _ Chara’s voice started,  _ “you stay determined.” _

Frisk smiled, feeling a boost of energy rush through them.  _ ‘Thanks Chara.’ _

_ “No matter what the condition, you have to stay determined.” _

* * *

Finally reaching Waterfall, Frisk went to find the quiet room where they could be alone with reflective water. The area was dark and glowing with beautiful aqua plants and many other species in the zone with similar properties. The human always loved areas like these and so did Tares. 

Being a frog like monster, Waterfall was her favourite part of the Underground ever since Frisk set foot into it. She visibly calmed and relaxed on their shoulder, nuzzling it slightly. The human giggled at the affectionate action, and gently caressed her head.

They went to find a more reserved space, away from any Echo Flowers and looked into the reflective water to see Chara as their reflection. They smiled to the other, and their friend smiled back in the reflection.

_ “You came here just to see me?”  _ Chara asked, crossing their arms over their chest.

“Well, not specifically that,” Frisk spoke with their voice, and averted their gaze shyly. “I just… really like Waterfall. It reminds me of this cave someone used to take me to, back when I was much younger.”

Chara nodded.  _ “I see. It’s like, nostalgic I guess, huh?” _

The blue sweatered human hummed. “Yeah, basically. Plus, it’s always been the most serene and calm of all the areas in the Underground. Other than New Home, but there was this sense of… dread and sadness to that place.”

_ “I understand. It was… really odd being back home again,”  _ Chara turned away, their shoulders rising and lowering with a deep breath and exhale.

“We’ll be leaving for the Surface soon too, so I thought maybe we could rest here for a bit before we go.”

Chara was silent for a while after that, and Frisk could only assume it was because their friend was worried about what the humans might think of monsters returning to the Surface so suddenly. Either that or they were still thinking about Asriel and how their brother was gone yet again.

Frisk decided against prying at the ghost human to talk, as if they did not want to, Frisk wouldn’t force it on them. The blue sweatered human looked to the glowing dotted ceiling of the cavern and sighed wistfully. The only part of the Surface they truly missed was the star speckled sky that they’d always watch at night, whether alone or not.

_ “I’m glad that you will be able to return home, however,”  _ Chara spoke up after some time.

Frisk jumped a bit from the sudden sound of a voice, and their soul popped into reality. They snatched the glowing red heart, and took a deep breath, reabsorbing it into their body. “Yeah, but to be perfectly honest with you, I just really wanted everyone else to have the happy ending they deserve. Besides, I want to see the stars again.”

Chara nodded in their reflection on the calm surface of the water.  _ “I suppose. These monsters have suffered long enough.” _

“Right.”

There was another moment of silence between the two humans, with only the sound of distant rushing water filling it. Frisk took a deep breath, and picked up Tares, gently placing her on their shoulder. She appeared to have fallen asleep, and they smiled fondly to her. They stretched their limbs and stood up, starting out of Waterfall and towards where the River Person would be. They stayed near the river however to let their reflection of Chara remain beside them.

“Chara,” Frisk started, “I can’t thank you enough for what you did. Thank you.”

Chara shrugged, but had a sweet smile form on their face afterward.  _ “I could not just sit there and watch you suffer. That would be cruel beyond belief.” _

Frisk nodded, feeling Tares shift on their shoulder. “Thank you.”

* * *

Frisk looked behind them with a smile on their face. Their monster friends were all ecstatic to see the Surface and be free. They looked to the Froggit on their shoulder and she nodded with tenacity and assurance. With joy and confidence, the human lead the group of monsters out through the purple archway and beyond to the Surface. 

It was beautiful. The gorgeous red-orange painted sky and the sun just over the horizon bathed the surroundings in a warm orange-yellow light. The monsters all lined themselves along the ridge, staring at the serene world that they were kept under for so long; the world they had been fighting so desperately to see. 

Tares jumped off the human’s shoulder to stand in line with the rest of the group, and look completely mesmerized by the view. The wind blew gently against the fur, scales and bones of the monsters and Frisk let out a breath, realizing how much they actually missed seeing this and was more than glad that their friends were seeing it now too. 

Their white ragged cloak flowed calmly in the breeze and the only sounds that filled the air were the rustling of leaves from the forest far below and the quietly howling wind. The city and a few more mountains were visible in the distance, darkened by the shadows produced by the sun shining behind them. 

“Oh my…” Toriel breathed.

“Isn’t it beautiful, everyone?” Asgore asked.

“Wow… it’s e-even better than on TV,” Alphys averted her gaze, blushing. “ _ Way _ better! Better than I ever imagined!”

“Frisk, you  _ live  _ with this?!” Undyne exclaimed, as the human stifled a giggle. “The sunlight is so nice… and the air is so fresh! I really feel alive!”

“Hey Sans… what’s that giant ball?” Papyrus asked.

“We call that ‘the sun’, my friend,” the smaller skeleton replied.

“That’s the sun!? Wowie!!! I can’t believe that I’m finally meeting the sun!!!”

Asgore’s usually strong posture visibly softened. “I could stand here and watch this for hours…”

“Yes, it is beautiful, is it not?” Toriel looked to the other monsters on her right. “But we should really think about what comes next.” 

“Oh, right,” Asgore stood up strong again to address his fellow monsters. “Everyone, this is the beginning of a bright new future. An era of peace between humans and monsters,” he went to the human on the far end of the line of monsters, as they approached him as well, the two standing in the middle of the line. “Frisk…” 

“Yes, Asgore?” Frisk looked up at the large boss monster.

“I have a favour to ask of you,” he put a paw on their shoulder. “Will you act as our ambassador to the humans?”

Frisk lowered their head.  _ ‘Be the ambassador to the monsters?’ _

_ “You remember everything that you’ve been through during your travels through the Underground,” _ Chara’s voice started, _ “and feel reassured that being an ambassador of the monsters will be nothing compared to it.” _

They took a deep breath, and exhaled, ending in a smile. They turned to look up at the monster, determination and confidence shining in their open blue eyes. “Yes, I will.”

“Yeah!” Papyrus exclaimed, catching their attention. “Frisk will be the best ambassador! And I, the Great Papyrus… will be the best mascot! I’ll go make a good first impression!” With that, he ran off towards the city that wasn’t too far from the cliffside.

“Welp, someone’s gotta keep him from getting into trouble,” Sans turned around back towards the Underground’s gate, and winked. “See you guys,” he left down through the gate and disappeared into the darkness of the mountain.

Frisk assumed he took one of his ‘shortcuts’.

“Man, do I have to do  _ everything _ ?” Undyne smiled widely. “Papyrus, wait!!!” She quickly darted in the direction where the taller skeleton had left.

Alphys turned to where the two had left and smiled. “Hey, Undyne!! Wait up!!” The lizard-like monster followed the others as swiftly as she could, leaving behind the two boss monsters, Tares and Frisk.

There was a moment of silence, and there was now a large gap between Toriel and Asgore. Frisk wondered if she has positioned herself on the opposite end of the line intentionally so that she wouldn’t have to be near him. The human started to feel awkward as the tension between the two boss monsters became so thick it felt like it was choking them. They stiffly made their way back to stand beside Toriel, hoping to ease the thick tension but to no avail. Tares scooted closer to them, her face filled with discomfort.

“Whoops,” Asgore shattered the silence after some time. “Uh, should I do something?”

Toriel gave him a stern look that made the other boss monster back up a very small amount. 

He smiled nervously, turning around. “Well, gotta go!” He left hastily, leaving Frisk and Toriel alone.

Toriel turned to the direction everyone had left in. “Everyone seems quite eager to set off,” she looked to the sun on the horizon, as the three shared a moment of silence. She turned back to the small human, and they turned to look at her. “Frisk… you came from this world, right…? So, you must have a place to return to, do you not? What will you do now?”

Frisk looked down at the ground. They didn’t have a place to return to… with hopeful realization, they knew they did now. They looked back up to meet the boss monster’s red eyes and smiled, full of faith. “I want to stay with you.”

“What?” Toriel looked shocked, but she composed herself and smiled sweetly at the human. “Frisk… you really are a funny child. If you had said that earlier, none of this would have happened. It is a good thing you took so long to change your mind,” she giggled. “Hee hee hee. Well, I suppose if you really do not have any other place to go… I will do my best to take care of you for as long as you need. Alright?” She held out her hand and they giddily accepted, holding onto her paw tightly. “Now, come along. Everyone is waiting for us.”

Her paw in hand and their Froggit friend back on their shoulder, Toriel lead the human off the cliffside and towards where the other monsters were. Frisk couldn’t wipe the smile off their face, not that they would ever want to.

_ ‘That’s it. My destiny has been fulfilled. I freed everyone.’ _

* * *

The view was just as beautiful as it was the day everyone was freed from Mount Ebott. Frisk found themself back on the same ledge, looking at the setting sun in the distance. The sky was illustrated in strocks of reds and oranges that blended to create hues of yellow and pink, and in combination with each other cast a warm glow to the whole area.

However, they did not return to the ledge to revisited the gorgeous view. They had returned because they had noticed how empty and quiet their head had become ever since they left. They even felt a little lost without that voice in their head.

They looked around, seeing if they could possibly spot whom they were looking for, and turned their head down at their shadow, to see Chara staring back at them with shock in their red eyes.

“Chara,” Frisk started.

_ “Frisk,” _ Chara replied, averting their gaze.

They didn’t know where they could take the conversation from there, so they went to sit near the edge, dangling their legs over it. They took a deep breath, and saw Chara’s ghost appear next to them, mirroring their position and posture of being slightly hunched over. The two were quiet for quite a while, the wind blowing gently against the human and phasing right through the ghost.

_ “What are you doing here, Frisk?”  _ Chara asked, breaking the stillness and tension between the two.

Firks yelped, their soul being startled into the world. They stumbled around a bit on the ground and snatched the red heart, holding their other hand to their thumping chest. They took a deep breath and reabsorbed their soul into their body.

“I… was just wondering where you were,” Frisk stated, and averted their gaze shyly, hands shaking slightly. “I noticed how quiet my head was ever since I left the mountain with everyone else.”

Chara shifted, and pulled their knees up to their chest. They rocked back and forth gently, their expression an odd mix of emotions Frisk struggled to pinpoint without making it obvious that they were trying to read the others expression. 

The ghost human took a deep breath, and rested their head on their knees, staring out at the setting sun as the sky was beautifully transitioning from the warm to cold colours.  _ “Why? Why did you come back then?”  _ They pause, leaning their head away from the other.  _ “You have everyone and everything. You have no reason to come back here other than to look at the view. Finding me should be out of question.” _

Frisk blushed, smiling bashfully. “Well… I don’t have  _ everyone  _ there actually.”

Chara turned to them with skepticism, but there was a hint of hope in their red eyes.  _ “What are you implying there? Asriel?” _

“Ha, no silly,” Frisk laughed a little. “Asriel’s there in the form of Flowey, even if he doesn’t want him and the flower to be considered the same person, it’s the same spirit. I was talking about you.”

_ “Me?”  _ A shocked expression was adorned on the ghost human’s face, and their cheeks visibly reddened as they turned away.  _ “Why?” _

“If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be stuck in a state of loss,” Frisk laughed weakly, one of their hands running through their hair. “I’d be losing myself more and more, wondering constantly what my purpose was and… and…” they felt an odd feeling to start laughing maniacally. The sensation to start laughing was beginning to come out in small giggles. They couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into a delirious fit of laughter, their head turned up to the sky and a hand to their forehead.

Chara reared away from the human, looking completely taken aback and uncomfortable with the insanity that was being displayed beside them. Even if they knew Frisk couldn’t physically harm them, they still felt themself instinctively move away.

There were now tears dripping out of Frisk’s closed eyes as they continued to laugh. Their laughter slowly toned down, and they removed their hand from their face, head lowered back downward.

“Hahaha, why am I laughing?” they chuckled, shoulders shaking with it. “Hahaha! I don’t understand! Why am I laughing?!”

Slowly, they’re laughter died, and they broke down into tears, holding their tear streamed face with in a hand. Their shoulders shook with emotion now instead of insane amusement. Frisk wiped the tears from their face, and took deep breaths as Chara moved closer to help support them.

_ “Just breathe. Breathe,”  _ the ghost soothed.  _ “Gently, breathe.” _

With time, Frisk calmed down and there was another reticence between the two. The wind blew gently and the stars were now visible in the painted blue sky.

“Ok, I’m ok now,” Frisk cleared their throat, their face flushed with embarrassment and guilt. “Sorry about that. I really don’t know where that came from.”

Chara looked away for a second, but nodded.  _ “It’s alright.” _

“Where was I anyway?” the human put a hand to their chin in thought, perking up when they remembered. “Oh right. I’m serious when I say I want you to come too. You’re the reason we’re even here. If it wasn’t for you, I would still be committing genocide after genocide after genocide.”

Chara took a breath through their teeth.  _ “I… suppose so, but…” _

“Come on, Chara. Don’t try to discredit yourself so much. It’s all thanks to you I’m here,” Frisk smiled warmly to the ghost human. “That we’re  _ all  _ here.”

_ “I…”  _ the ghost shifted awkwardly.  _ “I guess…?” _ They hesitated, and then shot up with an argument.  _ “How would you bring me back then? Just me as a ghost?” _

Frisk giggled. “Nah, that’s not good enough for me. I feel like I wouldn’t be doing you justice nor would it be acceptable in my mind as paying you back. It’s just not enough,” they leaned back on their hands. “Besides, it would be extremely crude of me to bring you back and have you watch me and everyone else live happily while they can’t see you.”

_ “What do you have in mind then?” _

The smile on Frisk’s face widened with enough sweetness you’d receive a cavity from seeing it. They put a hand to their chest, and it glowed from between their fingers with a red glow. As they removed it, their soul pulsed with life as it hovered in their hand.

“Ya see, I have a lot of Determination, right?” they asked, almost rhetorically.

Chara nodded, eyeing the others soul.  _ “You better not be giving up your life so I can live one.” _

Frisk hummed with thought. “Actually, I was debating on whether or not I would do that, but no, that’s not what I’m doing. Do you remember how during our battle with Mad Mew Mew, my soul got split in two and I had separate control over both sides, like this?”

The red heart had one side turn a light blue, and the human moved the two halves independently. 

Chara hummed in acknowledgement.

“Well, what if I did this,” Frisk’s soul returned to it’s normal red colour and they held it in two hand. Without warning, they broke their soul in two. 

They lurched forward, feeling a tremendous amount of pain rip them in two. Chara’s hands instinctively reached out to catch them even if the other would just phase right through them, but Frisk caught themself, taking in multiple deep breaths.

They smiled in a manner that heavily resembled Sans, and punched a fist into the air, holding one half of their soul. “Alive! Gee, I didn’t think that would work!”

_ “What?!”  _ Chara shouted, throwing their hands in the air angrily.  _ “So what you are telling me is that you did this not even thinking about consequences?!” _

“Uh, kinda?” Frisk smiled faltered a bit. “But I couldn’t think about those when I was so excited to try it out! Besides, death is kinda… I’m just gonna drop that,” they shook their head. “Basically what I’m saying is that I was too giddy thinking about giving you half my soul that I didn’t think about the potential consequences.”

Chara’s expression flattened as they eyed the other human’s wide smile.  _ “I… am going to be honest. I can’t tell if I should feel endeared or concerned.” _

“Endeared!” Frisk exclaimed, juggling the two halves of their soul in their hands.

The ghost scoffed with an adoring smile on their face.  _ “Alright. So… what you are telling me is that…”  _ they trailed off, smile faltering into slight disbelief.

“Here,” Frisk gave the other one half.

As the soul came into contact with Chara’s outstretched hand, the ghost let out a gasp as there was an explosion of bright light. Frisk yelped, turning away quickly as the force from the explosion made their cloak blow in the wind roughly. They felt around behind their head for the hood, and yanked it over their face as an attempt to shield themself from the blinding light.

The light and wind slowly faded, and as Frisk lifted their hood away from their face, they saw a humanoid figure that heavily resembled them silhouetted through the smoke formed by the explosion. The smoke fully cleared, revealing Chara looking at themself with a confused and bewildered expression.

They met Frisk’s gaze, and looked to the ground with a gasp. Frisk turned to see what they were so shocked about and saw that the other was casting a shadow. The green sweatered human, rubbed their arm and touched a hand to their face.

“I… I’m corporeal,” they uttered. “I… I have a body. I can feel… the sun on my skin.”

“It feels good doesn’t it?” Frisk asked, almost rhetorically.

Chara ducked their head away, the gentle breeze playing with their hair. “It has been so many years since I have felt it.”

Frisk nodded, looking back to the view, and watched as the sun set further away and the sky transition to cooler colours. The stars became apparent in the sky, glittering with emotion like tears in vast blue night sky. The cloaked human took a deep breath, exhaling all their worries out for the time being and brought a leg up to lean against, a peaceful smile on their face.

Chara glanced at them, eyes drifting to the lifted leg. “I see you got you leg repaired?”

Frisk nodded, stretching out their half limb. “Yeah, Alphys made me a new one after I visited my prosthetist. They gave us advice on what to adjust on it based on how I am now.”

There was a long silence between the two as they both looked at the starry night sky and the darkened silhouette of the city and mountains in the distance. Frisk took a deep breath, and turned to the human at their side.

“Hey,” they called, catching the green sweatered human’s attention. “I wanna return something to you.” 

They reached behind their neck, and undid the heart locket they wore, lifting it out from underneath their sweater. They held it in the hand for sometime, watching the cool colours of the sky reflect off its shining gold surface. With a smile on their face, Frisk went towards Chara and hung the locket back around the other’s neck. Chara’s face was wide eyed with shock as they slowly looked down at the locket they held in the palm of the hand. Chara lowered their hand back down to their side, the pendent bouncing a bit with the energy of falling. 

Frisk chuckled at the others reaction, and put a hand to their chest, cupping the ornament under it. “Right where it belongs.”

Chara gently placed a hand over Frisk’s, not breaking their gaze with the other, and the two sat there unmoving for some time. Frisk finally broke the connection and stood up, offering a hand down to the red eyed human.

“Come on,” Frisk smiled. “Mom’s probably worried about where I’ve been for so long,” their smile widened with sweetness. “Let’s return home together.”

Chara stared at the others hand for some time, doubt clearly passing through their eyes. They sighed, ending in a smile, and nodded, grabbing the others hand as they hoisted themself up. Frisk giggled, as both the humans’ half souls hovered in front of their chests, and Chara smiled to the other. Hand in hand, the two humans walked back to Toriel’s house, leaving Mount Ebott behind them.


	2. Inner Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our past isn't something we can run from. Theoretically and literally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya. I'm back and to hell my thought process and writing drive. This was way longer than I anticipated and if things are too long, give me a heads up. Sorry, no scene pic. I haven’t drawn it yet, but it’s currently sketched out. I’ll post it in when it’s done.  
In the meantime, enjoy chap 2

_ “W-where… where am I?” _

_ It felt as though their eyes were closed as they were surrounded by darkness, but their eyes were open. Frisk blinked them furiously to try and see something through the void that enveloped them but to no avail.  _

_ Images started to become visible to them, and they blinked to clarify whatever was in front of them. It was a large metal grey door, and they closed their eyes, preferring their usual method of sight that didn’t involve their orbs being open to the world.  _

_ There was a whirring sound and the door started to raise up. The sound of a large crowd cheering rampaged into the small chamber they were standing in and they felt their mental vault open, staggering a step back. _

_ ‘Not here,’ they thought. ‘I can’t be back here again.’ _

_ The door raised up all the way, confirming their worst fears. Ahead of them was a large arena bowl that they had become far too familiar with during the early years of their life.  _

_ “Hey! Move and get in there, Silence!” _

_ Frisk looked over their shoulder and saw the angered expression of one of the White Coats standing over them with a spear in hand. They cowered underneath the White Coat’s glare and turned their attention back to the arena ahead of them. They touched a hand to their neck, feeling the cold metal of the identification collar snapped on tightly around it, and the chilled touch of metal claws on their fingertips reminded them of why they even stood in this chamber. _

_ It reminded them of what they had done over the years that they lived in this horrid place. _

_ “What? Are you deaf and mute? Get in there! The Flowers expect a good show as well, not that you ever disappoint in the arena,” The White Coat muttered the last part under their breath, smirking down at the child. They shoved the child roughly into the arena, and blocked them with the spear.  _

_ Frisk stumbled into the reflecting white dome and the sound of the crowd cheering was deafening. It felt like the roaring of horde was going to split the small human’s head open, especially with how disorienting the bright white lights were in the arena bowl.  _

_ They looked at the crowd of White Coats and company, all screaming and shouting for blood and violence. Everything in the crowd started to warp, as if the White Coats were stretching and looming towards them, pushing them against the wall. Things suddenly returned to normal as the White Coats returned to their seats, all laughing and pointing across the arena. _

_ “Haha, I guess it’s you and me now, huh Silence?” _

_ Frisk’s heart thumped rapidly in their chest, threatening to burst out of them. With utmost reluctance, they looked across the arena bowl and saw who their opponent was, immediately backing up as far as they could. They took in a choking breath, as their eyes shot open with shock and denial. _

_ A human child around their age stood on the opposite side of the ring with an expression filled with anxiety on his half white face.  _

_ ‘Not him. Anybody but him…’ _

_ This boy was their friend. Their best friend. He was covered with deep scars from his own numerous fights in the arena and had vitiligo, which made him undesirable to the masses. The most notable patch was on the right side of his face where a large splotch of white resided from his cheek to his forehead contrasting heavily with his darker skin. _

_ The two stared at each other, unmoving.  _

_ Then the bell rang. _

_ ‘I can’t kill him…’ Frisk thought. ‘I can’t. Please don’t make me kill him.’ _

_ They looked up desperately, trying to find their Owner and tried to convey their pain and despair but he shook his head. With a sickening smile, he dragged two fingers across his neck, and used grey magic to write out a message directed at them. _

_ “Kill him, or else.” _

_ Their friend eyed them, and Frisk looked to him with an expression full of anguish. Their frown deepened as the two started to circle one another.  _

_ “I don’t want to do this, Two-Face,” Frisk wrote out with grey magic. _

_ Two-Face launched himself at them, swinging a clawed hand at them. Frisk quickly dodged, smacking him across the face. It pained them more than they could imagine to have to hit him but it came like an instinct.  _

_ They didn’t feel like they were in control of their body anymore, like it was moving on it’s own. Their claws uncharacteristically ripped through his skin messily as they attacked more frequently than they ever did.  _

_ The crowd thundered with every bloody display of violence that they committed. The room filled with laughter and praise, and it made Frisk’s stomach lurch.  _

_ They wanted to stop, but their body continued as if it was programmed to kill. Two-Face hadn’t been able to land a single hit on them, while he bled from several fresh wounds that they inflicted on him.  _

_ Frisk saw an opportunity and slammed their shoulder into him, knocking him off balance as he rolled across the white floor. Two-Face stumbled to his feet, as his blood pooled under him, staining the white arena grounds red.  _

_ “Ha ha,” He laughed a little, licking the blood that dripped down from a pair of slashes that ran across the bridge of his nose. “You really are untouchable, Silence!”  _

_ Frisk winced, feeling their heart wrench at the sight of their friend in such pain that they caused. They couldn’t understand the situation they were in. Everything felt so surreal but at the same time it felt like reality.  _

_ Two-Face suddenly rushed forward to strike again, but Frisk leaned away and ran their shoulder into him, pinning him to the ground. He laughed weakly, but winced at the pain of his wounds.  _

_ This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t. It had to be a nightmare. It had to be. It just had to be! _

_ Frisk looked up to their Owner as he slid his fingers across his neck. Fear resonated within them, as they looked back down to their bleeding friend. His mouth moved as if he was saying something but all they could hear was white noise. They wanted to hear him, they didn’t want his last words to go to waste, but more importantly. They didn’t want the last words they heard from him to be the ones he spoke to try and lighten the dark void of a mood. _

_ He put his hands onto each one of their shoulders and had a serious face, possibly the most serious they had ever seen him. His mouth moved again but no words came out. All Frisk could hear was the roaring of the crowd.  _

_ They shook their head but felt their left hand raise up without input. _

_ ‘No! I can’t kill him!’  _

_ Frisk tried their damndest to prevent the inevitable but nothing was working. In one quick motion, they felt their claws rip through their friend’s throat, spilling his blood all over the ground beneath them and coating their hand with the crimson substance. _

_ ‘No!!’ _

_ Two-Face choked and coughed on his own blood before falling limp, giving one last smile as his eyes rolled back. Frisk let out an incoherent scream but it was a mere whisper through the eruption of roaring laughter and cheers from the crowd above. _

_ Everything started to warp again as they started to tear at their face with their clawed and bloodied hands but nothing they did to themself did any damage. They continued to scream and cry as the death of their best friend sunk in.  _

_ Why was the world so cruel?  _

_ Why did it have to end like this? _

_ What was one more death caused by them? _

_ ‘He didn’t stand a chance but he still tried. An apology won’t do anything! He’s gone because of you! You’re alone! You’ve always been alone! You weed! You really are nothing but a weed! Disposable and a nuance!’ _

_ The laughter of the White Coats wouldn’t stop, and it only started to become deafening. The faces of all the humans they killed floated around them. Each a sickening reminder of what their purpose was. Each a reminder of what their Owner told them. _

_ “You should know better than to make friends and connections, because in this world  _ ** _it’s kill or be killed_ ** _ .” _

* * *

Frisk screamed, violently throwing themself upright in bed. They heard a thud, but they couldn’t tell if that was their heartbeat or someone falling off their bed. They looked to their hands and wrapped one around their neck. No identification collar, no blood, no claws.

Despite that, they vigorously shook their left hand, feeling the phantom of blood coating it thickly. They felt tears in their eyes, and started to cry, their body shaking with emotion. 

“It was just a nightmare,” a small but reassuring voice ribbitted. “You’re not there anymore.”

Frisk looked to their side and saw Tares sitting beside them with worry in her eyes. She was keeping her distance however it was clear that was only because she didn’t want to trigger them further. Behind her, Frisk could see Chara, who was evidently shocked and concerned. The two were most likely awoken by Frisk’s screaming.

“Chara,” their voice broke as they retracted their hands to their chest. “I hate killing.”

“I know. I know,” Chara gently pulled the other human into a hug, as Tares did the same from the other side. “But you do not have to kill anymore.”

“I’m a weed, Chara… I’m a weed.”

Chara sighed quietly. “A lot of us are. Especially in their eyes.”

“You’re not there anymore though Frisk,” Tares nuzzled her human friend’s side, soothingly. “You can be who you want to be now. No more killing.”

“Your voice and body are now free,” Chara ran their fingers through Frisk’s messy hair softly. “You can show loyalty to whomever you see fit.”

Frisk buried their face into the other human’s chest, hearing the door open. They peered out from the comfort of both their friends embraces and saw Toriel looking at the group with worry. She entered the room and placed the huddle onto her lap as she sat down on the bed.

“Everything is going to be alright, my child,” Toriel comforted, embracing both the humans and the Froggit. “We all have a past that we would like to forget, but you cannot let it drive your life.”

Frisk curled further into the loving group embrace and felt their breathing return to normal. It was late from what they could tell, and apologized for waking everyone up by writing it out with grey magic, not trusting their tongue to speak.

“Do not fret about it too much, Frisk,” Toriel reassured. “I had to comfort Chara as well, back when they lived with us. Do not think of it as if it were a chore for me, because it is not.”

“We’re all here for you Frisk,” Chara spoke gently as they held the other human tighter.

“You’re not alone,” Tares said, looking up at them with a smile. “Not anymore you’re not.”

Frisk smiled to the people around them, and leaned into them. Familial love and support was infectious and it was something they never wanted to end. It was something they didn’t often feel when they were younger, and cherished every moment they could now that they found the family they had longed for.

* * *

**One year later.**

_ ‘Okay, here we go.’ _

Frisk hid behind a tree, back pressed against it as they peered around it. They spotted the flag, but saw it was being heavily guarded by Papyrus and Undyne. It was not going to be easy to retrieve it. They quickly snapped back behind the trunk as Undyne turned in their direction. With a deep breath, they held their half soul out in their hand, trying to sense where Chara might be.

They could feel their other half resonating close by, most likely hiding as well. Tares sat higher up in the branches of the tree, and gave a reassuring nod to the human below her. Frisk nodded back to her, and she launched herself out the tree.

“There Papyrus!” Undyne yelled, pointing at the Froggit, as she bounded around the two taller monsters.

“If the frog monster is here, then so is the human Frisk!” Papyrus held up a bone in the air, starting towards the tree the cloaked human hide behind.

“Right on!” Frisk leaped out from behind the tree, and ducked under the bone Papyrus swung at them.

They grabbed onto it, as he pivoted it back. Using the momentum from his movement, Frisk flew through the air, and rolled across the dirt to keep the energy and use it to run faster. Tares was hopping around, weaving between Undyne and Papyrus, using her small size to easily out maneuver the two larger monsters. She sprayed water at Undyne to disorient her, and took a powerful jump onto Frisk’s shoulder as they ran by.

“Ah!” Undyne yelped.

“Gee, that was pretty neat, Tares,” Frisk panted, running towards where they could feel their other half resonate more.

The Froggit wiped her mouth clear of excess water that dripped there. “Thanks. I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.”

Frisk chuckled, before ducking as quickly as they could, stumbling from the sudden stop in their speed. They rolled across the ground, barely being able to regain their footing and turned to see Undyne with many spears floating around her.

“You’ve escape for the last time, punk!” She pointed a finger at them, and launched a flurry of spears at them.

With a deep breath, and a step back, Frisk ran forward, jumping and dodging every spear that came in their way.

“Impressive! However, we shall not be bested!” Papyrus pumped a fist in the air, and summoned bones out of the ground in the human’s path. “See if you can keep up with this, human!”

The human skidded to a stop as Tares sprayed a powerful jet of water to help stop their forward momentum. She clung tighter to their cloak, as Frisk started to perform a couple backflips to gain some distance. They took in a breath, and began to generate a flame in the palms of their hands. With a dominating clap, fire erupted in front of them, disintegrating the bones and spears that came towards them and kicking up dust into the air.

“Wowie!” Papyrus exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise.

“Damn it, Frisk!” Undyne coughed. “I can’t see a thing!”

There were two human figures silhouetted through the dust cloud, both looking identical if it weren’t for the flamboyant cloak that one wore.

“Did you guys forget this was a three on two?” A German voice spoke.

A stream of water cut through the dust cloud, as the fish and skeleton monsters dodged out of the way.

“Well you better rethink your strategy, because…”

Frisk and Chara came visible through the fog, both wearing expressions of pure determination. The two humans brought their hands together, and Frisk threw their partner into the air as they both generated fire magic in their hands, and spoke in perfect unison.

“It’s time for our Double Trouble Delta Stream Special Attack!”

Chara rained down a gale of fireballs, as Frisk ran underneath, shielded from all opposing attacks. They spun around, fire punching a spear that flew their way and then utilized the energy from throwing an explosive fireball at the ground to rocket themself into the air above the two other monsters.

“Now this is more like it!” Undyne gave a toothy grin, and summoned more spears.

“Woohoo!” Chara rolled into a ball, and spun to generate more energy as they fell from the air. They opened up and put their fire coated hands together to slam them onto the ground, causing flames to flare up from it.

Papyrus jumped back and mobilized walls of bones to stop the attack. He held a bone in each hand and fought against Chara and their fire punches. With a blazing jab, both human and monster were knocked back, taking a moment to breath.

“I’m impressed, human Chara,” Papyrus congratulated. “You’ve grown much stronger since we first started training.”

Chara smiled, catching their breath. “Ha, thanks Papyrus!”

The two continued trading swings and punches as Frisk and Tares continued to dodge Undyne’s relentless assault of spears. The human wasn’t making as much progress towards the flag as they would have liked and their exhaustion was starting to catch up to them. 

They quickly snatched one of the spears, and jabbed it into the ground. Using it like a pole vaulter would in high jump, Frisk tossed themself through the air above the wave of spears. They threw the spear behind them as it collided with another and Tares fired a stream of water at the few that changed direction to them. 

She sprayed more water and Frisk followed the action with flickers of embers, creating mist that hid them from view again.

“Damn it!” Undyne shouted. “They’re gone again!”

“Go get ‘em Frisky!” Chara cheered, then narrowly avoided Papyrus’s swing at them. “Woah!”

“Hey! You can join in anytime, Sans!” Undyne shouted at the shorter skeleton, as Frisk emerged from the other side of the water vapour cloud.

Sans sat up slowly, blinking the sleep from his eye sockets. “Huh, what?”

“It’s supposed to be a three on three!” The fish monster growled. “However it definitely feels like a three on two!”

“Yeah sure, I’ll help.”

He put up a bone barricade that surrounded where the flag hung, with a couple stragglers around it. 

“That’s not helping Sans!”

‘ _ Here we go!’  _ Frisk thought, picking up their speed towards the flag.

A spear grounded itself in front of them, forcing the human to jump back. They turned to look behind them, and saw Undyne holding a spear with many more floating behind her.

She pointed at them, summoning even more spears. “I don’t think so, punk!”

Tares tapped the human’s shoulder to catch their attention. “I got this, you go get the flag.”

Frisk nodded to her, and she hopped along their shoulders to sit on their left forearm. With a dynamic swing, they flung Tares at the fish monster, as the Froggit pushed off with a powerful jump. Frisk used the energy from throwing their monster companion to start running towards the flag again with greater speed.

“Papyrus!” Undyne called, as she fought off Tares’ attacks. “You need to stop them, they’re gonna get the flag!”

“Nyeh! I don’t think so!”

Chara blocked a bone with a fireball. “Go Frisk!”

The taller skeleton summoned bones in the human’s path, and they strafed between them, keeping their goal in mind to not deviate too far from it. This single minded thought process made them suddenly feel off. 

The world started to warp abruptly and the bone barricade that surrounded the flag abruptly changed to cell bars, and behind it was Two-Face with his characteristically large smile. All within the same vision, everything corrupted into Sans standing in the Judgement Hall with eyeless sockets.

Frisk unexpectedly tripped as a bone that knocked them off balance from underneath and as they fell, a bone fired up from the ground, nailing them directly in the chest. They were sent flying through the air, and landed harshly on their head with a grunt as they rolled onto the stomach, cloak draped over their head.

“Oh shoot!” Chara quickly extinguished the fire magic that remained on their hands, and rushed over to their friend. They kneeled down beside them as they slowly got up. “Hey Frisk, are you alright?”

“Wow, I don’t think you guys have ever gotten so close to winning before,” Undyne admitted, standing over the two humans with Papyrus and Tares by her side.

“You’re not broken are you, human?” Papyrus asked, worry in his voice.

Frisk coughed, clutching a hand to their chest. They started to choke out laughter between their coughs and fell on their back. “That was awesome!”

“Yup, they’re fine,” Chara rolled their eyes playfully.

“What happened there, kid?” Sans questioned, kneeling down next to the cloaked human.

Frisk let out a few exasperated laughs before replying. “I just spaced out for a moment there,” with a grunt, they pushed themself upright. “I think I maybe pushed myself a little too hard. I think I’m done for the day, though.”

“Yeah, that’s understandable,” Chara touched a hand to their chest, equivalent to where Frisk was hit. “That hurt though, did it not?”

“It definitely winded me,” Frisk wheezed. “Otherwise, I’m alright.”

“Mom can probably heal you up,” the green sweatered human suggested. “She also most likely has a pie waiting.”

Frisk nodded, staring up at the blue sky that was misted with clouds. Their sternum did hurt quite a lot and so did their head, but it was nothing compared to everything they’ve been through. They almost felt numb to it. 

“Hey Frisk,” Chara stood above them, looking down at the dazed human, “do you need a hand?”

Frisk grabbed their human friend’s hand as they hoisted themself up.

“Actually, I think the kid needs a leg,” Sans winked, “cause they’re kinda missing one.”

Chara and Papyrus glared, unimpressed at the smaller skeleton, but Frisk started to laugh. The cloaked human pointed a finger gun at him, and copied his large smile.

“I’m on my last leg,” they winked.

“Ugh! You two are ridiculous!” Chara groaned.

“I one-hundred percent agree with you, human Chara!” Papyrus exclaimed.

Frisk chuckled, following it with a sigh. The trauma and slight warping of the world was still running through their head and they suddenly felt out of place, like an annoying weed in a beautiful garden of flowers. They felt Tares jump onto their shoulder, and smiled to the Froggit.

“Hey, you guys go on ahead,” Frisk jabbed a thumb behind them. “I think I’m gonna go on a walk to clear my head.”

“Going to the hill, I assume?” Chara inquired.

Frisk smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of their neck. “Is it that obvious?”

“You always go there if you’re feeling off,” Chara patted them on the shoulder where Tares did not sit. “Go on. I know better than most that time alone is the best way to clear your head. Especially in a serene place.”

Frisk nodded, and waved farewell to their friends before narrowly avoiding someone who was rushing towards them at great speeds.

“Woah!” They spun a bit from the rushing winds, and stomped a boot down to ground themself.

“Yo, sorry ‘bout that, Frisk.”

Once their head stopped spinning, they smiled to Monster Kid. “Don’t worry about it, MK.”

“Alright, but I didn’t miss it, did I?” They asked, looking at the humans and monsters before them.

“Nah, sorry buddy,” Chara apologized, waving a hand. “We just finished.”

“Aw dang it!” MK stamped a foot on the ground. “Man, I can’t believe I missed it again!”

“There’s always next time,” Frisk reassured. “In fact, these guys might do more.”

“Yeah maybe,” Chara shrugged.

“Maybe?!” Undyne yelled. “Of course we’re gonna do more! Come here, Red-Eyes!”

“Wait hang on—!”

She grabbed the green sweatered human by their arm and dragged them off back to the open field.

“Frisk why?!” Chara was thrown onto their feet, and narrowly avoided three spears that were thrown their way.

Frisk chuckled, and turned heels. “Bye, Charie.”

“I’ll help you, Chara!” MK ran over to the green sweatered human, and blew a plume of blue fire to evaporate a pair of spears that were hurled at them.

“Thanks MK!”

Frisk didn’t catch whatever else the monster and human duo would have said to each, as they were far down the field at that point. They continued walking through the green lands and the path that was all too familiar to them. They felt the ascension of the hill and saw the tree that resided at the top of it. The grass was greener than ever, and the asters and zinnias that dotted the hilltop were brightly contrasting with the grass.

Frisk took a deep breath when they reached the top, taking in the beauty of the view. No matter how many times they saw it, it would always amaze them.

“It’s so beautiful,” Tares ribbitted, jumping off their shoulder to lay down on the bed of flowers under the shade of the tree.

Frisk nodded, sitting down beside her, and leaned against the trunk of the tree. Tares jumped into their lap, snuggling into them, as they started to breathe deeply. Their sternum hurt with each breath but they didn’t care as much for the pain as the tranquility of their environment was calming and therapeutic.

They touched a hand to their chest, and immediately flinched away. They realized how painful breathing was, and tried to take more shallow breaths, no matter how much they wanted to oppose the idea.

“Hey Frisk,” Tares called.

The human looked down at her. “Hmm? What is it?”

“Do you miss her?” The Froggit looked up the them, sitting in their lap.

Frisk let their head fall back on the trunk, gazing up at the leaves above them. They sighed, and hugged the frog monster closer to them protectively. “Of course I do. I loved her,” they choked back tears. “I loved her with everything I had.”

Tares snuggled into the human reassuringly. “Is that why you doted on me?”

The human nodded, biting their tongue for a second. “Yes. You came to me in a desperate time of need, just like she did.”

“I won’t leave you though,” Tares hugged her human friend. “I won’t leave you.”

“Don’t leave me like so many others did.”

“I won’t.”

The human and monster remained in a tight loving embrace for some time. Frisk didn’t want to ever experience the pain of losing someone they loved ever again. It was just too much for them to handle again. They gently rubbed Tares’ back, as her paw tightened hold on their sweater.

“She used to sing me to sleep,” Frisk stated. “An old lullaby she wrote.”

Tares nodded, not saying a word. She was going to let Frisk talk out their worries and concerns.

“She’d wrap me up in her cloak to keep me warm at night,” they continued. “She’s the one that taught me to play guitar. She taught me not to be afraid to make new relationships no matter how much it hurts to lose them because I should spend time appreciating the living instead of using all of it to mourn the dead. To never harden myself to the point where I’m completely numb. I killed so many people and started to grow numb to it. My soul was darkening.”

“But she also taught you that darkened souls can be pulled into the light,” Tares nuzzled the human gently over the bruise on their chest.

“That’s right.”

“You’re mourning and I understand that it’s more than difficult for you to get over the loss of someone like her, but you’re still enjoying life, right?”

“Yeah, at least I think so.”

“You are. You wouldn’t have been laughing and smiling with your friends earlier if you weren’t.”

“Right,” Frisk wiped their eyes, and looked into the frog monster’s. “Thank you for letting me get that out.”

“Anytime.”

The human hugged the monster closer to them. “Thank you, my sweet little aster.”

The two remained in that position for some time, Frisk leaning back on the tree. There were no disruptions of sound other than the wind blowing and birds singing. Frisk picked up the sound of footsteps and turned to see Chara climbing up the hill. They waved and sat down next to the human monster duo.

“Heya,” Frisk greeted, sitting up straight.

“Greetings Frisk. How has the relaxing been?”

Frisk took a deep breath, wincing slightly from the pain. “It’s been nice.”

“That is good to hear.”

“How was the extra training?”

Chara chuckled nervously. “Uh, it was…” they slouched, wearing an expression of dumbfoundment, “painful,” they perked back up, “but MK was really good. They are great at defending and we got so close to winning.”

“Darn,” Tares tapped a paw on Frisk’s lap. “We’ll win eventually. We’re so close.”

The two humans nodded to the monster, and sat in a still silence all together. Frisk watched the clouds moved at a gentle pace through the sky under the shadows of the tree. They glanced at Chara who looked more at peace than they had ever seen them. The green sweatered human had their eyes closed with a slight smile on their face. 

Frisk turned away, and took in a shallow breath. “Chara, can I ask you something?”

Chara opened their eyes and looked to the other human. Their red orbs appeared to glow in the dim light of the sun, and Frisk would be lying if they did not feel like they were going to get lost gazing into them. 

“What is it?” Chara asked. 

“Were you born here or did you move?”

Chara took a deep breath, and brought a knee up to their chest. “I moved here… from Germany.”

Frisk smothered a snicker, opting to smirk playfully instead. “Gee, I never would have guessed.”

Chara chuckled. “Yeah, right?” They let out a breath and continued. “Well, the air quality was not too great where I lived, and my lungs were… defective.”

“That’s a harsh way of saying your lungs weren’t very strong,” Frisk leaned back on the tree, grinning.

“Ha, yeah I suppose so,” Chara laughed. “It was fairly bad there however. I could not step outside without feeling as though I was choking. My family– well no, I should say my mom did not care for it as much. My dad on the other hand was always concerned about my health. I could not breathe there.”

“So, you ended up moving to a place where you could breathe properly?”

Chara shrugged. “After an unknown amount of pass outs and a visit to the hospital, yeah.”

Frisk raised up, taken aback by the comment, and stared at their friend for a second before resting back on the tree trunk. 

“My dad was always suggesting that we move as it was very troubling for me to live life the way I was. My mom however did not want to move as it would cost far too much. That is valid, but my dad wanted what was best for me, and us. We were not doing well financially, so it would have been difficult to move even if she was on board with the idea,” Chara sighed heavily. “I passed out one day, and was rushed to the hospital.”

Frisk opened their eyes to glance at the other curiously.  _ ‘Are… are they really going to continue?’  _ They looked away, closing their eyes again as Chara took a breath to start speaking.  _ ‘They are. Do they really trust me that much?’ _

“I was told that I was out for a long time. A few days I think. My dad was there by my side, and my mom was too, but she was at the door, glaring at him,” their voice broke and they rubbed a sleeved arm over their eyes.

“Stop if you have to,” Frisk stated, holding the others hand. “I didn’t expect you to start telling the whole story.”

Chara’s naturally blushed face reddened bashfully. “I… suppose subconsciously I trust you a lot more than other people. I would not have done that around anyone else.”

“I noticed,” Frisk nodded, straightening the posture against the tree. “I would be lying immensely if I said you continuing into a story after my question  _ didn’t  _ surprise me.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Chara shrugged.

“I kinda owe you now, huh?” The cloaked human grinned.

Chara looked at them skeptically. “Pardon me?”

“The nightmares that I have. Like that one I had a year ago where you, Tares, and Mom came to comfort me,” Frisk replied.

“You do not have to.”

“I don’t mind. It’s about something you’re already familiar with.”

Chara shifted, looking uncomfortable. “The lab?”

Frisk nodded, taking in a deep breath and felt Tares shift in their lap. “Yeah. T-that place. The nightmare… it recounts the time I was foolish enough to make a friend in that place, and was forced to… well… kill him.”

Chara bobbed their head slowly.

“I knew I shouldn’t have become friends with him, but… his smile and personality was so infectious,” Frisk let out a laugh. “Heh, he was the only one who  _ didn’t  _ hate me there. Kay you might find this hard to believe but,” their voice was dripping with sarcasm, “everyone there hated me because I was someone who had walked the Green Lands before. The rest of the ‘weeds’ there haven’t even walked on grass, let alone seen natural growing grass ever in their entire lives,” they shrugged. “I wouldn’t blame them for hating me so much.”

“So, because this person was such a polar opposite to every other ‘weed’ in the facility, you almost felt obliged to get to know him?” Chara asked for confirmation.

Frisk nodded. “He was just so energetic. He was in the cell in front of me, and I’m gonna be honest, I was a little annoyed at first when he started talking to me, but…” the smiled fondly, “he grew on me. He was my best friend,” they took in a shaky breath. “He didn’t mind my muteness, and we were opposites on those terms. He was so flamboyant with his voice and I was… well as my name there implied, silent.

“With time however, the White Coats most likely noticed how close we were getting,” they chuckled weakly. “Ha, he was pretty loud. So they decided to have us fight each other.”

They body started to shake with emotion and laughter. “He forced my hand,” they clenched their teeth tightly, trying to smother their increasing laughter. “He didn’t give me a choice. The White Coats didn’t give me a choice.”

Frisk started to tremble more violently, and Chara and Tares quickly hug the unstable human. Despite how they were feeling, Frisk continued to laugh and sputter nonsensical sentence fragments.

“Why?” Frisk laughed. “Why am I laughing?!” Their twisted amusement slowly died down, and they wiped tears from their eyes. They gently moved away from the group hug with a slight amount of reluctance. “I think I’m alright now.”

Chara scoffed, fiddling with their locket. “One day, you are going to burst out laughing at a funeral.”

Frisk laughed happily at the comment. “Yeah probably! Then I’m going to make monsters look horrible! Why did I accept being the ambassador, again?”

“Because our other option was Papyrus,” Tares stated blankly.

Chara snickered. “And we know if he became the ambassador, we would not still be here.”

The cloaked human’s cheeks puffed out as they tried to contain their genuine laughter. “No, we wouldn’t,” they sighed. “I just wish I would stop laughing at the most inappropriate times. Like, admit it, despite that being a joke, I’m probably  _ going _ to end up bursting into laughter at a funeral.”

Chara shrugged. “It is… well. It is not like  _ I _ am not guilty of doing something like that. You know, when I laughed off Dad getting sick from the buttercups. Laughter is a coping mechanism. A lot of people use it in the Underground.”

“Yeah, I noticed, but at least they don’t laugh like they’re crazy.”

“Granted, they have not lost as much sanity as you.”

Frisk glared mildly at the other human. “Is… is that an insult?”

“Yes,” Tares raised her head, wearing a stoic expression that matched her human friend.

“Hey.”

Chara chuckled. “It is not meant to be one. It is just the truth.”

“Fair. Painful, but fair,” Frisk shrugged. They sighed, and felt their stomach rumble. “Frick.”

Chara snickered. “Alright Hungry, let us go home and eat some butterscotch-cinnamon pie.”

“Sounds good.”

The two got up as Tares jumped onto Frisk’s shoulder. Chara started down the hill, and the cloaked human smiled down at them. 

“Hey Frisk,” Tares whispered. “Tell me next time you and Chara are gonna third wheel me.”

Frisk stumbled, taken aback by her words. “Excuse me?”

Tares simply responded with a smug grin, and hopped off the human’s shoulder, following after the other. Frisk sighed heavily, shaking their head and started walking down the hill. They sensed another presence and snapped around. Nothing had changed, and no one appeared to be there.

They stood there, scanning their surroundings, attempting to figure out who’s presence they sensed, but nothing showed itself. With utmost reluctance, Frisk continued descending the hill, however the phantom sensation of something or some _ one _ watching them lingered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry not sorry. Was Frisk imagining that other presence or not? Who's this 'she' that they and Tares are referring to? Dunno. We'll see later on in the story. Two-Face will be mentioned pretty frequently in this story from what I can tell, and he's not the only one from this place that Frisk thinks fondly of. More on that later. See y'all around when the next chapter comes up!


	3. Flowers and Reconciliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm not dead. I think I'm going not going to do scene pictures until maybe later on, but we'll see. Enjoy the chapter, and I can hopefully get back on track after this

“My goodness Frisk, that is quite the bump on your head. What on earth kind of training are you and Chara engaging in?”

“It’s nothing too crazy, Mom,” Chara replied, leaning back on the couch. “They simply took a hit that they did not expect.”

Toriel looked between her two human children and turned back to the one she was healing. “Be honest with me Frisk, are there any other injuries that I should know of?”

Frisk touched a hand to their sternum. “Well, Sans did strike me here.”

“Hey, don’t drag me into this kid,” Sans warned, almost playfully, from his relaxed position on the perfect reading chair.

Chara scoffed, and laid down horizontally their head on the arm rest with their hands behind their head. They and Sans were on good terms but they could not shake the memories of how much trouble he gave them during Frisk’s first Genocide run. They could tell he felt as though he should be wary of them when they first met physically, but he also felt that way when he met Frisk for the first time during their final run.

Still, Frisk was able to prove they meant no harm in that final run as he only had a hunch about the multiple Genocide runs. He became one of their closest friends, while Chara had not had the time to develop that kind of relationship with him yet, and it did not help how he had received a feeling of caution from the time they first met physically.

_ ‘But, it is not like Sans is unaware of who I am,’  _ they thought, glancing at the skeleton lounging in the perfect reading chair with a plate of crumbs from the pie on his stomach.  _ ‘He just does not know the reason behind the feeling of caution he received when he met me,’  _ their brow furrowed as they narrowed their gaze at him,  _ ‘and perhaps it is for the better.’ _

They caught Frisk eyeing them and smiled subtly, winking at the other. Chara rolled backwards and leaned on the armrest of the couch. They smiled with their teeth and stood up. 

“I think I am going to take some time to myself outside, Mom,” Chara started towards the door. “I will not be very long.”

Without hearing her answer, Chara opened the door and stepped outside, closing it gently behind them. They took in a breath and sat down on the porch. Night had started to fall, and the wind was gently blowing. Chara would be lying if they thought it was not calming. It was as if the wind took their worries and concerns and blew them away. 

They brought a knee up and leaned on it, their hand fiddling with the gold locket that hung on their neck. Flowey was sitting somewhere in the house but they never bothered to talk to him. Ever really. 

Despite that, he had some strange attachment to the other heart locket that once belonged to his monster form. They just could not look at the flower as if he were their brother, even though technically he was. 

It was just that all they could remember when looking at Flowey was his nightmarish form of Omega Flowey and their corrupted self ruthlessly hacking him down after he pleaded for mercy at the end of Frisk’s first Genocide run. As well as his multiple cruel actions against Frisk throughout their first ever run through the Underground. Taking pleasure in other people’s pain reminded them too much of the father they escaped from years ago, prior to meeting the Dreemurrs. 

They frowned and rubbed their scar littered forearms. It was almost therapeutic if it were not for the history of those scars combating any kind of sense of relief they could receive. All the scars that were scattered along their body reminded them of what they had been through. However, they felt so out of place whenever they would stand beside Frisk. 

The cloaked human was so spotless. Not a single scar could be seen on them, unless their prosthetic leg counted. Even then, only the top of it is visible and if someone was not looking to find a blemish, they would see nothing wrong with Frisk physically. Chara loathed being asked about their scars. Anything from why they were so scarred up, to what happened to them.

They growled deep in their throat.  _ ‘Why does anyone need to know of my history? It is none of their business.’ _

They heard the door creek open behind them and turned around, accidentally shooting Frisk an aggressive glare. The other human visibly recoiled behind the door, and Chara lowered their head, closing their eyes. They sighed, and put their leg down.

“I’m sorry,” they apologized, softening their expression with sorrow in their eyes. “I did not mean to glare at you like that. It was not my intention to hurt or scare you.”

Frisk exited the house, closed the door behind them, and sat down beside the other human. “It’s alright. I should have made my presence known prior to opening the door.”

Chara shrugged, leaning back on their hands. It was getting dark out and the sky was now beginning to turn varying shades of blue from the disappearing sun. They did not mind the silence that was between them, as they had gotten used to Frisk’s silent behaviour ever since the cloaked human fell into the Underground. Especially since Frisk was completely mute when they had fallen down.

“Frisk,” Chara called. 

The other human yelped and their half soul blinked into reality. Frisk quickly snatched it and held it close to their chest. They sighed and turned a dumbfounded expression to the snickering human beside them. “Yes?”

“My apologies, I did not mean to surprise you,” the green sweatered human cleared their throat. “Could I… ask you something?”

Frisk nodded, reabsorbing their soul into their body. “What is it?”

“Why are you so spotless?” There was a hint of envy in their voice, but Chara tried their best to overshadow it with genuine curiosity.

Frisk raised a brow, adorning an expression of pure confusion. “I’m sorry, but… what?”

“I apologize,” Chara bowed their head. “I understand. It  _ is  _ a strange question.”

“No, no. I’m sorry,” Frisk put a hand to their chest. “I should have asked what you were asking specifically. I guess I just didn’t understand your wording is all.”

Chara averted their gaze. “I apologize for not making it clear.”

Frisk opened their mouth to speak but both humans were startled by a thumping sound from behind them. It sounded like something small had slammed into the window. They both looked behind them and saw Tares staring at the two, her body pressed against the window. She wore a flat expression that almost looked accusatory. 

“Tares, what the heck?!” Frisk put emphasis on each word, practically spelling out their annoyance and shock. 

“If you two keep apologizing to each other, you’re never gonna get to the point,” she replied, sliding down the glass until her back paws landed on the sill. “Stop bickering about who’s sorry and ki—“ she cut herself off, and gave a suggestive smirk, “ya know what, I’ll let you two be.” She slipped down off the windowsill and left out of sight. 

Chara and Frisk both let out a breath, just realizing now how heated their faces were. They turned back away from the house, and stared at the star speckled dark blue sky, the silence being made awkward.

Frisk cleared their throat, breaking the stillness. “So, um… sorry about her, she’s… uh...” 

“Y-yeah, it’s alright,” Chara shifted uncomfortably.

“So, what was it that you wanted to ask me?” 

“Ok, I am going to try and word this better,” Chara took in a breath. “What I meant by ‘spotless’ was…” they groaned with frustration, “how do I put this? I meant, why do you not have any scars on you?”

“Oh, ha ha,” Frisk’s face flushed bashfully. “I’m not as ‘spotless’ as you think.”

Chara turned to them, with a hint of skepticism. “Oh?”

Frisk nodded and pulled back their hair on the left side of their face, revealing a pair of curved scars that ran under their ear. The scar on top was shorter than the other, ending a little after their ear while the other dragged onto their cheek a little. “I got these from my first fight in the lab’s arena,” they traced the longer one up behind their ear. “They go behind here, but I was lucky enough that my opponent did not damage any internal stuff,” the human’s expression darkened. “I was lucky enough that my hair grew out to cover it.”

Chara bobbed their head slowly, eyeing the pair of scars. “Is there any more?”

“Oh yeah, there’s this one,” Frisk pushed up their bangs, unveiling a gnarly gash mark on their forehead that almost cut into their hairline. “I got this one from the Arena Torturer. She just barely missed my eyes.”

The green sweatered human shifted uneasily. “The ‘Arena Torturer’?”

“Yeah,” Frisk lowered their hand, their bangs falling back into place, hiding the scar. “She was sent to ‘deal with me’ after I tried to escape again.”

“That’s…”

“Messed up? Yeah, it is,” Frisk shrugged. “She left more marks but…” they blushed, “those are kinda always hidden unless I’m—”

“ _ Do not! _ ” Chara quickly snapped, their face reddening as they covered it. “I  _ do not _ want to think of that.”

_ ‘Not yet anyway,’ _ they thought, mentally smirking.

Frisk snickered, their eyes cracking open slightly. “Ha, alright, but basically, I’m not as spotless as you think.”

Chara hummed, nodding. They felt their face cool off, and turned back to the other. Frisk scoffed, and rubbed their wrists. 

Chara sighed through their nose, and looked at the ground. “I guess you tried too, huh?” Their own wrists now felt like they were burning.

“Heh, uh… yeah. A few times,” Frisk tilted their head to the side a little, and pulled their cloak closer to their body. “As you can tell, it didn’t work.”

“Yeah, it did not work for me either,” Chara blinked slowly, their index finger subconsciously tracing one of the deeper scars that were strewn along their forearms. “No matter how many times I tried.”

Frisk nodded, and turned to face the human beside them. “While we’re addressing our forearms, I… want to show you something.”

Chara hummed, giving the other their undivided attention.

The other human brought their left arm out and pulled down on their sleeve. Chara’s eyes at first caught all the scarring along the human’s toned skin but something else was jarring to them. There was a thick darkened line that slithered around their arm like a snake curled over a branch. It wrapped around up to their wrist, with the tip on their palm.

“What is it?” Chara asked.

Frisk closed their hand as if to grasp something, their body visibly relaxing at many points, and the dark mark suddenly pulsed to life in a faint red glow, traveling up their arm with the movement of their grip. As it reached their closing hand, the mark transformed into a red glowing dagger just as their fingers came together to hold its hilt. 

Chara flinched. The blade had emerged in such a quick and fluid motion with the other human’s hand but it also brought back memories from Frisk’s many Genocide runs.

“I…” Chara started, unsure where to go with their sentence, “do not understand.”

“Yeah, I didn’t either, but check this out,” Frisk opened their hand into a relaxed position, and the blade reformed beck into a serpentine shape, slithering back down to coil around their forearm. “Gone,” they closed their hand to grasp something, and the blade returned. “Freaky, right?”

Chara nodded slowly, staring at the glowing dagger as if it had put them into a trance. “When… where?” They could not form proper sentences and shook their head as if to rid themself of the stupor caused by the blade.

Frisk averted their gaze guiltily. “I think this first came in after my first Genocide run, then it became a permenant part of me after I started my second. It’s been here ever since.”

“How were you able to hide it?”

“I don’t really,” Frisk shrugged. They relaxed their hand, and the blade quickly coiled back down around their arm. “I sometimes forget it’s there, but it really likes to remind me that it is. I have to force it down,” they sighed, lowering their voice. “It’s like it has a mind of its own.”

Chara hummed, watching as Frisk kept their other hand wrapped around the dagger summoning one. “So, it is like…”

“The physical embodiment of the consequences of my actions,” Frisk finished. 

The green sweatered human lowered their head, sighing through their nose. They did not trust their tongue to speak, so they wrote it out using grey magic.  _ “I do not understand why only you got it however. I took part in those runs too. I forced you to continue that first one,”  _ they shut their eyes tightly, turning away from the other.  _ “I did not allow you to stop even when you pleaded me to.” _

“Yes, but it was me that corrupted you,” Frisk answered. “Had I just stopped resetting and not let my curiosity get the best of me, then those runs would never have happened. In turn, you wouldn’t have been corrupted into becoming so controlling.”

Chara was left silent, and through that, the other continued.

“You were able to gain full control over me by the time we got to Sans, because I had increased your power so much from all the LOVE I was gaining, but then what do I do after we reset? I start another Genocide run. You had nothing to do with that decision. You weren’t even that involved in this one. What do I do after you tell me to try another run?” Frisk grit their teeth, speaking through them. “I do another Gencide run.”

_ “You were not in your right mind, it was not your fault.” _

“But it was. I didn’t have to keep doing them, but I did anyways. I completed that run without dying once. Hell! I didn’t even get hit once! You were then forced to kill me yourself in order to end it, once and for all.”

_ “I…”  _ their words trembled as they were written out,  _ “it was possibly one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made,”  _ Chara opened their mouth to speak. “Not even the buttercups plan with Asriel made me hesitate that much,” they lowered their head and sighed. “Listen. You were committing those runs in order to try and feel something again, but as you continued, you slowly got more and more lost in the dark,” they smiled. “But just as that special late someone told you, a darkened soul can still be pulled back into the light.”

Frisk laughed weakly. “Yeah, right. That doesn’t justify what I’ve done though.”

“It does not, but remember what Two-Face told you as well, do not let those actions define who you are,” Chara held the other human’s hand in their own tightly, “because I know, you are so much more than that,” their face flushed. “ _ He _ knows that you are so much more than that.”

Frisk smiled, their face reddening. “Thanks,” they looked up to the stars above. “To all of you.”

Chara let out a breath through their nose and stood up. “Come along. Mom is most likely wondering where we are.”

“Ha,” Frisk laughed, standing up and starting towards the door. “She might think we may have run off or something.”

The green sweatered human smiled to the other as they entered the house. Chara went towards the door but heard a rustling noise behind them and snapped around. Their brow arched as they scanned the area in front of the house. Nothing, however they felt as though they were being watched.

With utmost reluctance, they entered the house.

* * *

“Hey Chara.”

“Yes, Frisk?”

“When we were talking outside, did you get the feeling we were being watched?”

Frisk turned to look at the other human who was leaning on their bed, standing above it. With a sigh, Frisk took off their cloak and hung it on a hook that was attached to the wall at the foot of their bed. They patted down their pajamas - which consisted light purple-pink long sleeved top and equally light blue long pants - and sat down on their bed, Tares hopping onto their lap.

Chara nodded slowly and sat down on their bed across from the room. “Yeah and I could have sworn I heard something or someone rustling in leaves outside the house when I was going in.”

“Strange,” Frisk put a hand to their chin. “I felt the same way earlier today.”

Chara averted their gaze and removed their locket, placing it gently on their bedside table. Their hand rested on it for sometime as they stared at the light dancing on the gold polished surface. Their other hand gripped the collar of their yellow top tightly, as their gaze hardened into a glare on locket in front of them. 

Frisk turned to the window that was on the wall farthest from them. Chara’s bed was on the wall of the window, while Frisk’s was across from them. Each had a bedside table and the lamp stood in the far corner on Chara’s side while the wardrobe was between the two humans’ beds.

The blue wearing human went towards the window and sat on its large sill, staring out at the stars. They leaned their head on the glass and slowed their breathing. Tares hopped over to them and rested on their lap, gazing at the white speckled sky. 

_ “You know,”  _ Frisk started writing out.  _ “There are some kids out there that will never see these stars.” _

Chara turned to them and sat across from them on the sill.  _ “So I have heard from you.” _

_ “The lab was a scary place,”  _ Frisk sighed.  _ “So many kids and teenagers alike. Most haven’t even felt naturally growing grass before, let alone seen it.” _

_ “That is… really upsetting to think about.” _

_ “It’s the harsh reality I experienced as I was held in that place.” _

There was a stillness that fell upon the monster and humans. It was suddenly broken by the sound of rustling just outside the window. They all snapped up, ferociously scanning everything beyond the glass, but they caught nothing. 

Tares huffed, and hop-paced on the windowsill, glaring at the foliage below. 

Frisk arched their brow.  _ ‘There’s something going on out there. Someone is stalking us.’ _

Chara seized hold of the curtains and yanked them shut. They angrily let out a breath and stormed back over to their bed. “Who ever is doing this, appears to have an obsession of sorts with us.”

The blue wearing human nodded slowly, and carried their fuming Froggit friend back to their bed. 

“Well whoever it is, they better quit it,” Tares spat, curling up on the soft bed. “This is getting majorly creepy.”

Frisk nodded, lay down on the mattress and stared at the ceiling. They slowly removed their prosthetic leg and sock, placing them beside the bed on the ground. “Let’s just try to get some sleep,” they pulled the blanket over themself and Tares, turning to face the wall. “Goodnight Chara, goodnight Tares.”

“Goodnight, you two.”

* * *

Chara’s eyes snapped open, as their chest rose and fell sharply. They sat up with a quiet groan and put a hand to their throbbing head. They pressed their palm into their eye and silently got out of bed. They fondly held the heart locket in the hands, and put it back around their neck.

Frisk was still sound asleep, and their was breathing leveled. Tares lay beside the human’s head on her stomach, but Chara could not help but read the protective body language radiating off her. Chara smiled, and walked out of the room, each step barely touching the ground. 

They practically flew down the stairs and stepped into the kitchen. There sat Flowey in his flower pot on the counter, staring out the window. At the base of his pot was his gold locket and he had a vine wrapped protectively around the chain.

“What do you want, Chara?” His words dripped with venom and the human glared at him.

They walked over to the counter and leaned on it, resting their head on their crossed arms. They glanced up at him, and sighed through their nose. “It does not pertain to you,” they turned away, brow arching with annoyance. “Not everything revolves around you, Flowey.”

They did not have to look at him to know that he was glaring daggers at them. Their brow furrowed deeper and they huffed sparks of flames from their nose as if to release their anger and frustration through it. 

They lowered their head, the faint moonlight casting a dark shadow over their eyes. “I’m sorry.”

The flower turned to look at them with a hint of reluctance in his glower. “About what?” 

“About the plan,” Chara stated blankly. “I’m sorry it did not work,” their hands clenched into tight fists, as the moonlight reflected off of tears that were beginning to form in their hidden eyes. “I’m sorry about everything.”

Flowey’s expression hardened as he stared at the human beside him. He turned back to the window and huffed. “It’s fine.”

The human raised their head slightly. “W… what do you mean by that…?”

Flowey audibly growled with annoyance. “What I’m saying is that it’s behind us. Don’t hang on to these things, and just let it go already.”

“It’s my fault that you are like this.”

“Whatever,” his vines curled tighter around the chain of his locket. “I know this is something that is really stupid and probably rude but, you gotta get over it. You can’t let it dictate your life years after it happened,” his expression softened ever so slightly, as he lowered his voice. “Idiot. I would have thought you of all people would know that.”

Chara eyed his vines with tears dripping out of their eyes. They sniffed, and rubbed their tears away, taking in a deep breath. “You’re right.”

A silence fell upon the two as they both stared out the window. Chara sighed through their nose and stood up. They gave the flower a smile as he turned to face them, and saw his gaze land on their locket. They held it fondly in their hand, remembering the day their monster brother ecstatically declared that they were his best friend and felt another tear fall from their eye.

Chara looked back to the flower, and saw his vines coil protectively around the locket part of the necklace. “Goodnight, Flowey.”

Something changed in the flower’s expression and it only made Chara smile more as they saw a hint of the brother he once was flash across his face.

Flowey turned away hastily, and closed his eyes. After a beat, he replied. “Goodnight, Chara.”

The human felt their grin swell, as they noticed there was no edge to his tone, and started back towards their room. They leaned against the door and waited for their pounding heart to calm down. It had been such a long time since they spoke to him. 

Frisk always urged them to at least try to talk to the flower, but Chara never felt ready until just then. It went better than they expected, and it made them almost giddy with bliss that they were able to see a bit of Asriel in him. 

_ ‘He’s still there,’  _ they thought wistfully, feeling another single tear race down their cheek.  _ ‘What I would not give to bring him back…’ _

Chara silently opened the door, and went into their shared room with Frisk, closing it behind them. The other human was still fast asleep, having kicked off their blanket a little. Chara chuckled at the sight, and gently pulled the covers back over the sleeping figure. Frisk let out a sigh of contentment, curling in on themself, as Tares rolled over to face the human in her sleep.

The green wearing human smiled tenderly to them both, and went over to their own bed, sitting down and leaning against the headrest. They carefully took off their locket and gazed at it earnestly. With a deep breath, they set it down on the bedside table and lay down, pulling the blanket over their shoulders. They closed their eyes and drifted off without a single doubt in their mind.


	4. Linked in More Ways Than One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay. I know. It's been a long time. I'm really sorry. I have completely lost interest in writing this fic. I didn't want to just fall of the face of the earth and act as tho this never happened, because that is extremely unfair to you guys. The next and final chapter will be highlighting what I had planned before dropping this, including a few notes at the end telling what this chapter had in store for it. Maybe I'll come back to it one day, with fresher ideas and better writing, for now, enjoy what i had

Frisk got up from bed and slammed a fist on the alarm clock. Tares rolled herself off as usual, landing with a thud. The human peeked over the edge tiredly, and saw her lying flat on the ground.

“You alright?” They asked, tiredly.

“Yup,” she replied, flipping onto her back.

Chara groaned, and rolled themself out of bed and onto the ground. They grunted from the impact, and looked up at the other human drowsily.

Frisk face palmed, shaking their head. “Why do you two get out like that?”

“It’s fun,” Chara stated flatly, standing up and rubbing their head.

The blue wearing human rolled their eyes and Toriel walked into the room, poking her head in. The three waved to her, and she smiled back.

“Breakfast is ready downstairs,” she beamed. “Come down when you are all ready.”

They all gave her a thumbs up, and she left the room. The two humans sighed, and Chara lay down flat on the floor. Tares jumped on top of their head, making the other human let out a muffled ‘hey’. 

Frisk smothered a laugh and fell backwards back onto their bed. They suddenly felt a jet of water spray at their face, and they waved their hands in an attempt to block it.

“Tares!” They cried, almost laughing. “Cut it out!”

The frog monster halted her assault, and jumped up and down on the downed human’s head. “Get up, get up, get up!”

“Stop jumping on my head!” Chara yelled, their words muffled by the floor.

“Ok, ok, ok! I’m up!” Frisk stood up, wiping the water from their face. “I’m also awake now.”

Chara stood up quickly, flinging the Froggit off of them. They rubbed the back of their head, and their eyes. “That is one way to wake up.”

* * *

“Do you guys ever sleep, or are you just always cranky?”

“Quiet MK,” Chara retaliated. “You would be cranky as well if you had two alarm clocks.”

Frisk giggled. “Especially if one of them can spray water.”

Monster Kid grinned widely, displaying all their sharp teeth. “I guess so, huh?”

“These bedheads would sleep until the evening if I don’t wake them,” Tares pouted, spritzing a bit of water at Frisk.

“Not true,” the cloaked human flicked the Froggit’s cheek. “We just decided to do some night watching last night.”

Chara nodded, scanning their surroundings. The schoolyard was full of kids, both human and monster. Some were in groups playing cards, or just talking while others were playing sports. Frisk, Chara, Tares, and Monster Kid were standing off to the side under the shade of a tree, awaiting for the school day to start.

“What were you guys discussing?” MK asked, their tail curling around a nearby branch. 

“Just some things,” Frisk replied. “We just keep getting the feeling that we’re being watched.”

“It happened last night twice,” Chara added. Their expression darkened for a second as they cast a sideways glance away from the group. _ ‘And is happening right now,’  _ they directed their gaze to Frisk,  _ ‘I wonder if they feel it too.’ _

The reptilian monster cringed. “Yo, that’s really creepy.”

“Exactly how we felt,” Frisk nodded.

Chara leaned back against the tree, and crossed their arms over their chest as MK and Frisk began to converse about something less creepy. The green wearing human continued to scan their surroundings furiously, refusing to leave a single soul in their premise unidentified. They were determined to figure out who was the cause of this feeling, and hopefully bring themself to a conclusion so they would not feel like they were going crazy.

They did not realize how their brow furrowed fiercely until Frisk called to them.

“Are you ok?” They asked. “You look like someone just killed someone you love right in front of you.”

Chara sighed heavily through the nose, and stood up, shoving a hand into their pocket. “Yeah, I’m alright,” they averted their gaze. “Just… looking around.”

Frisk gave the other human a dubious look, their brow arching with suspicion as they turned back to MK with a smile. “Are you gonna be going to Undyne and Alphys’ house after school today?”

The reptilian monster bounded up and down happily, their tail waggin behind them. “Yo, of course I am!”

Chara scoffed. “Undyne is going to pull me into another training session.”

MK turned a wide grin to the green wearing human. “I’ll train with you!”

“That is just fine. Perfect in fact,” Chara nodded, turning an accusatory smirk to the other human. “Especially since Frisk and Alphys are always doing  _ something  _ in the basement.”

“We’re watching anime,” Frisk stated with their trademark stoic expression.

“Yeah sure,” Chara’s smirked deepened with playful arrogance. “As if standing over a table of blueprints and scrambling to hide whatever you two are hiding from me and Undyne is ‘watching anime’.”

“It’s spoiler notes. We’re theorizing and it would be incredibly spoiler-y if you guys saw.”

“Ha, sure.”

“Stop third and fourth wheeling the monsters you two,” Tares pouted, lying on top of Frisk’s head.

“Shut up,” the two humans said in unison.

The frog monster smirked at the two, while MK looked mildly confused. Before anyone could bicker any further, the bell rang and everyone began to flood towards the doors of the school. Chara hung behind the group as the others conversed in front of them. They turned around one last time, but caught a shadow slipping back into the darkness of the trees. They flinched slightly, and furrowed their brow, turning back to look ahead of them.

_ ‘There is someone watching us…’ _

* * *

Chara and Frisk were walking towards Undyne and Alphys’ home. The cool wind gently blew against them, as Chara kept watch of their surroundings.

“I can’t believe we’re already having another retest,” Frisk complained. “We just had one!”

“Our class unfortunately is not the brightest,” Chara narrowed their gaze, annoyed. “Granted, we are quite old.”

“Mentally,” Frisk added. 

“Right, right. How old are you mentally again?”

“Seventeen.”

“And we are physically…”

“Twelve.”

Chara hummed, their cheeks reddening. “It feels so strange, does it not?”

“It does,” Frisk agreed, “but I can’t even imagine how weird it feels for you.”

“I am honestly not sure how old I am supposed to be. I age with you now after all.”

Frisk’s expression flattened. “You make it sound like a bad thing.”

Chara laughed. “Not at all! My appreciation is beyond what I could possibly put into words.”

Tares started to snicker. “It’ll make a good ‘how I met your parent’ story for when you two finally get married.”

The cloaked human stumbled in their step, and flicked the Froggit’s cheek. “Who ever said we were getting married?”

“Let alone having kids,” Chara mumbled, hunching their shoulders.

They were all left in an awkward silence for some time afterwards, as they made their way to Undyne and Alphys’ house for the party. Chara watched the autumn leaves fall from around them as they danced in the wind. It was such a beautiful sight. 

The silence was suddenly broken by a heightened amount of rustling that was far too unnatural to be the wind. Chara whipped around, glaring at their surroundings. They watched shadows run by and felt a fist slam into their chest. Letting out a surprised yelp, they fell onto their back, and punched two jets of fire to flip themself back up onto their feet. 

Frisk utilized their fire magic to push themself back towards Chara, and stood by their side, taking a defensive stance. The two humans unleashed flames from their fists at the rushing shadows that were running around them, occasionally seeing the flames make contact with a body.

They grabbed each other's hand, feeling a surge of energy rush through them, and they both jumped up, slamming a fist on the ground, causing a large fire explosion to erupt around them. It dispersed the group of shadowed figures, and the two let go of each other's hands, scanning their surroundings in an attempt to find their adversaries. 

Chara took a quick glance at Frisk, and touched a hand to their chest.  _ 'Strange. What was that surge of energy? Was it our half souls or was it—' _

Snapped out of their thoughts, Chara fired a jet of flames at wherever they heard movement. The shadowed figures began to charge at the two humans, and they both reacted differently. 

Frisk jumped up, utilizing their fire magic to boost them into the air, and opted to dodge and avoid the attacks thrown at them. Their Froggit friend aided in manipulating their momentum through precise jets of water and separation from her human companion. 

Chara charged at one of the figures, and gave them a face full of flames. They grabbed their foe by his dark cloak, and threw him into his comrades. They utilized a more aggressive approach, punching powerful bursts of flames at their opponents, giving them practically no time to react. 

One of the cloaked figures rushed by Chara, and prepared to strike them, until one of the other aggressors was tossed into her, a blue glow imitating off her soul. Chara looked to where their foe was thrown from, and saw Frisk with their left hand glowing a light blue.

Chara scoffed, generating a fireball to toss at an approaching adversary. "Getting better at blue magic, I see?"

Frisk smiled to the other, using their blue magic to take a nearby boulder and throw it into three of the cloak figures. "Sans is actually a really great teacher ya know."

Chara rolled their eyes playfully and traded punches filled with flames at their adversary. They let out a breath, as they and their opponent entered a stand still of sorts.  _ 'Great. Guess they waited to reveal that they are magicians too.' _

Their foe seemed to read their expression, and smirked, blasting two fire tendrils at them. Chara rushed forward, put their hands together and pointed two fingers out on each hand, cutting through the flames. They quickly separated their hands, efficiently dispersing the attack. They slammed their hands on the ground, and unleashed geysers of fire towards the cloaked figure. Once the flames had engulfed their foe, they felt an invisible force strike them on their lower ribcage on their left side. 

They looked around, but no one was around them. They rubbed the throbbing pain in their side, and saw Frisk pressing a hand on the same side. Chara let out a breath, wondering if this was purely a coincidence or if it was something else. Before their thoughts could continue, one of the assailants threw a boulder at them with earth magic. It collided with their chest, and shattered on impact, knocking the wind out of them.

Chara retaliated with a large blast of flames, forcing him back, and tried to catch their breath. To their right, Frisk looked just as winded as they did, and gave them a questioning sideways glance. Chara turned their attention back to their opponent and charged towards him, firing jets behind them to add speed. They avoided any other earth attacks he threw at them, and pushed their hands into his shoulders, unleashing a point blank eruption. 

Before Chara could regain their bearings for the next opponent, everything suddenly went blurry and their knees buckled underneath them. Their breathing heightened, and they grabbed onto the trunk of a nearby tree for support. Everything felt off and they could hear their own breathing and heartbeat thundering in their ears. They saw blurry humanoid figures walking towards them, and started punching jets of flames recklessly.

Chara spun into a fire tornado, and released it all, bursting away all of their adversaries. Utilizing their soul, they tracked down where Frisk was and saw that their friend was lying unconscious at the base of tree. They heard rustling from behind, and quickly picked up Frisk, beginning to sprint towards Alphys and Undyne's house. They kicked flames behind them to retaliate against their pursuers and to give them a short boost of speed. Soon, they no longer heard any signs of anyone chasing them, and let their pace slow a bit. 

Upon seeing the lizard-fish house come into their blurry view, their speed increased once more despite how much their legs and lungs burned. Once they reached the door, Chara kicked it down with a fiery kick, meeting eyes with a surprised Alphys. 

"C-C-Chara?" Alphys stuttered, fumbling with her glasses. "W-what are—“

Chara shook their head, stumbling into the house, as their vision blurred beyond recognition. “H-help…” their voice was barely audible, and they collapsed on the spot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay. That's all i had. Next up will be what i had planned for this fic in probably messy notation, again, I'm so sorry I couldn't finish this, but I hope the notation that follows will give you some closure. I cannot thank and apologize to you all enough for putting up with my crud and extremely inconsistent updates, and hope to be better in the future with the fic i have planned next. Take care


	5. Future plans: Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's what was planned for the story. the next "chapter" will focus on the Garden, explaining it more thoroughly, and how it worked.

After this chapter, the kids would wake up, and after telling her what happened, Alphys would propose the theory that because they share a soul, they are connect on that level as well. Get hit hard enough, and the other half will feel it too, and if one gets knocked out or something, with one half down, the other half feels it too by losing some of their ability.

At some point, the little secret that Chara brought up in chapter 4 would be explained with Frisk and Alphys revealing to Chara that they’ve successfully revived Asriel one day. The siblings have that heartfelt reunion(maybe i’ll write a short for it one day), and Asriel gets reintroduced to his parents.

Frisk and Chara would have some human friends, along with MK, and they would introduce Asriel to them, and it’s a click. They would be an established team, and work very well together, both in battle and in just everyday things. 

As some slice of life stuff occurs, there would be hints of something nefarious in the background. Soon enough, while the group is out, they get jumped by the same group as from chapter 4, which would be revealed to be members of the old lab Frisk ran away from before having fallen into the Underground.

They bargain Frisk into coming back by threatening their friends(mostly Chara, because i love this ship). Frisk complies, and all of them are knocked out. They’re all separated, and Frisk is put into their old cell, while the others are in a different part of the lab. During all that Tares would have gotten away, heading back to Toriel to tell her about the situation.

This lab would be called “The Garden”, and they focus on studying human souls(more on that later). Frisk fights in the arena, and goes mute hence their old name of “Silence” from that dream sequence in chapter 2. 

Chara and the others are all in one cell, and start to plan their escape, while the rest of the Undertale cast(Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, Sans, Asgore and Papyrus) track them down via a soul tracker that Alphys has(utilizing the strong signal from the immense amount of determination Frisk and Chara have) after being told by Tares that the gang was taken.

On Frisk’s end, they reunite with an old friend named Carli, and they catch up a little during the down time Frisk has before and after their fights. It’s a spark of light in the wasteland of darkness.

Back with Chara and them, Chara, Asriel and MK are thinking they could use fire magic to explode their way out of their cell, then go no holds bar against any guards that get in their way. They do so, upon quick agreement with the other human friends, and bust their way out, running around trying to figure out where Frisk is. The explosion from three very powerful fire magicians causes the place to become unstable, so the facility is crumbling around them.

They meet up with the other Undertale monsters, and they all go together to find their missing buddy. Chaos ensues as the entire lab realizes people have escaped and a group of ruffians is causing madness, whilst the entire facility is collapsing in on itself..

Frisk is currently making their escape, and the power goes out in the Garden. Their path gets blocked by rubble, and they proceed to try and find a different way out. They encounter Carli, and the two of them have a heart to heart. Carli ends up confessing and leaving an awestruck Frisk with a quick kiss, then disappearing into the dark, collapsing Garden.

Shaking off their shock, Frisk continues to run for an exit, and finally meet up with the Undertale gang(via having a wall explode beside them). A warm welcome ensues(with Chara and Tares stealing most of the attention), and Undyne informs that they save the heartfelt reunion for later. They all agreed, and start sprinting for an exit, Frisk leading them, as they know the facility best.

They all bust their way out, as the ground sinks in a bit with the Garden collapsing in on itself. With a small moment of mourning for all the lives lost in there(Frisk mourning the loss of Carli), the group leaves to return home to put these eventful days to rest. 

For an epilogue scene, the gang is all together for a barbecue at Toriel’s house. Frisk and Chara would have a heart to heart, and acknowledge the feelings they have for each other, leaving a more ambiguous ending to their relationship. They would both leave for a walk after having some food, and visit the caved in pit of the remnants of the Garden. Frisk learns to let go of their past, seeing as it was legitimately destroyed. WIth their hands intertwined, they would walk back home together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What will follow is a run down of the main characters: Frisk, Tares, Chara, MK, and Asriel(the human friends i mentioned are developed but not enough to warrant a mini bio)


	6. Future plans: The Garden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, explanation for the Garden. I honestly really enjoyed developing this back when i was writing for this fic, and i am quite disappointed that this wasn't able to be made out to it's fullest potential, but here's a quick run down of what i had for it.

The Garden is a facility that focuses on studying Human Souls, and resides underground(however it is not close to _ the _ Underground).. 

The name comes from the manner of which they view their facility and how it’s run. The scientists consider/call themselves the beautiful flowers of the garden, since they run the place and are providing information/research on Human Souls; whether by what their colour means, what they’re made of, and/or what they’re capable of(based on determination levels and what not).

The Flowers are either scientists, guards, or leaders within the facility, and the experimentees are considered Weeds. Weeds refers to them being below the Flowers, as well as being expendable. Weeds also refers to the fact that they are the imperfect people of society(which reinforces the notion that the Flowers are well, beautiful flowers and the imperfect people are weeds). 

The Garden leaders will send out a few spies every so often, and find “Weeds” on the surface to bring down to the facility. The Weed needs to be alone, and not appear to have any familial relations with anyone, as to not conjure any madness. They also have to qualify in some manner to be imperfect, as in any physical blemish, or something along those lines.

The spies would then capture their target, and bring them down to Garden, The brought in Weed would be collared, and given a name that the Flowers would be able to identify them with. Their name will either be named after their physical blemish, a physical trait, or a part of their persona(example; Frisk being dubbed ‘Silence’ because they never spoke).

This is how the Garden obtained the souls they need to perform their studies, however they want some entertainment out of it, so they obtain souls via having the Weeds fight against one another. The one that dies will have the soul harvested for study while the winner gets to live another day. These are known as Arena fights.

They had a pristine record of not a single weed having been able to escape, that is until Frisk came around. Frisk ended up becoming the Arena champion, with not a single opponent having been able to kill them. One day, shortly after having accidentally killed Two-Face, they begin to plan their escape. Shortly after a fight, they killed the guard that was bringing them back to their cell, and began an absolute slaughter, killing every Flower that got in their way; escaping the Garden, and shattering the facility’s pristine record.

After this, the Garden becomes very stringent on the Weeds. They up the amount of guards, and begin to try and find Frisk. They want to drill the idea that escapees won’t be escapees for long. Frisk’s escape ended up becoming a standard in the Garden, as many other weeds would attempt something similar, however not a single one was able to recreate Frisk’s results(more on this in the character section).

Now to bring up Carli. Carli was a weed that the head leader of the Garden had brought in personally to be a sort of pet, however the relationship developed and she ended up becoming more of a daughter to him. Their relationship isn’t entirely toxic but it is the closest to a father-figure that Carli had ever had_ (this was pretty rough when I was developing it, and this is mostly what i had for it. Pretty much an unfinished/unexplored idea) _

The hierarchy of the Garden has some leaders that will claim a Weed. These are known as the Owners of the Weed, and when they have one that does well in the arena, the Owner’s position and reputation/image would be shinier compared to other leaders. 

Whenever a weed attempts to escape and are brought back, the Flowers send a torturer to them as a punishment for trying to escape(Frisk held the record for having tried to escape the most, and the torturer eventually just became a usual to them). Punishments do get more violent, but the weed is typically tried to be kept alive.

Scientists that would be in the research would be known as White Coats amongst the Weeds as they wore white lab coats. Some would also act as guards to confuse the Weeds, as they wouldn’t be able to fully figure out who was a guard, and who was a researcher.

The things discovered in this lab is that: the colour of a human soul is determined by a character trait, the resiliency of humans through their determination(more determination, stronger will to fight on), and the relationship between LOVE and clutch mode.

Clutch mode: when a human’s HP is lowered to a third of it’s max, clutch mode will activate. Their body will completely drop their defences and invest in all offences in order to overwhelm their threat, and hopefully save themself. The relationship between LOVE and clutch that the Garden discovered was that those with higher LOVE would have much more control when in clutch mode, while those with low LOVE would kind of become mindless beasts

That’s really all I had developed for the Garden, if you have any questions, I’d be glad to answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last thing to do. Character bios


	7. Future plans: Tares + some added lore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick little thing on Tares and the world(i guess?). I'm splitting them up since, Frisk and some others by far has the most development, and would bloat everything up so much

Lorekeeper: a lorekeeper is someone with immense determination. They, as their name implies, hang on to the lore of the world; how it functions, and its history.

Frisk is the current lorekeeper, and found out, through their travels in the Underground, that a lorekeeper can also manipulate time itself to a certain extent.

A lorekeeper will typically have a destiny set in place for them. This is something that they will not be able to escape as it will be their duty to complete it. In Frisk's case, theirs was to free the monsters, giving them a possible reason why things had to go a certain way during each of their resets, and why they always appeared on the flower bed after each reset.

Lorekeepers that survive accomplishing their destiny(destinies), tend to act as a sort of "world saviour", having always something they can/will eventually help with/solve(acting sort of like the mediator of their area). They will usually assemble teams to aid them with that.

The heightened amount of determination allows the Lorekeeper to utilize RESETs in a different manner as well; to reset their LOVE down to 1, or back to max.

(This idea was fairly rough, and not as refined as I'd have liked)

Tares: 

Tares the Froggit was named after Frisk's caretaker/adoptive mother. 

First comes Tares the human. She had found young Frisk shortly after their parents had abandoned them. She took them in under her wing, and raised them up. Tares was pretty insane after having dealt with a lot in her life, but raising Frisk helped bring quite a lot of her back. She teaches them self defence, and how violence should really only be used as a last last resort. She recognizes the strength of their Soul, and tells them that they are the current Lorekeeper of Ebott, but also that they shouldn't worry about it too much, since they're still very young.

Tares is, at some point, killed in a huge fiery attack, and this devastates Frisk. They're still a small child(around eight or so), and take her burnt up cloak as a means to remember her by and carry her with them. This also leads up to their strong attachment to the cloak.

Now onto the Froggit. Frisk met the little purple striped Froggit whilst traveling through the Ruins. She ran into Frisk after Toriel left them to themself. The human was having a rough time adapting to their new and scary situation, and the Froggit hopped over in attempt to comfort them despite her own fear.

Frisk ended up naming her Tares because, like her human counterpart before her, came to help and comfort them in their time of need. The duo ended up travelling through the Underground together, with Tares promising to keep Frisk safe after having left the Ruins. Tares was told of her name origin during some down time the two had taken while Undyne was chasing them.

They would continue to be lifelong friends, and set an example for human monster friendships.

Fun fact: Both Tares’ are based off of a character from Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire’s Delta Episode, Aster. Tares is actually, in true Undertale fashion, an anagram of Aster, furthering the reference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, Frisk


	8. Future plans: Frisk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, really this is mostly background on Frisk. I had planned to write something that detailed their life in the Garden, but i don't know if i will write that. If i come back to this story, i might.

Frisk was abandoned by their parents when they were very young due to their imperfection: a green ring in their blue eyes. Their parents felt that they, two perfect human beings, couldn't possibly produce something any less than perfection.

Frisk eventually gets picked up and raised by Tares, to which she would also end up becoming a very significant figure in Frisk’s life. As explained above in Tares’ bio, she is killed when Frisk is about eight years old, and they don her charred cloak as a means to remember her by. This ends up becoming their most prized possession and as a result of Tares’ death, they vowed to never speak again.

Frisk is then abducted by the Garden and due to their muteness, they are dubbed “Silence”. Their first time in the arena, they attempted to follow Tares’ philosophy, and their own morals to not kill. However it is forced upon them as their opponent felt as though they deserved to live, having been spared, and lunged at them, which caused Frisk to retaliate and accidentally kill their foe. This sets it in their head that it is “kill or be killed”.

Frisk ended up becoming the undefeated champion of the arena, and are claimed by one of the head Flowers as his “pet”. Despite their high status and “success in the arena, this didn’t mean they enjoyed it. They felt as though their freedom was stripped from them, and desired to get it back. This lead to them attempting to escape multiple times, coming up short each time.

The other Weeds within the Garden resented them as Frisk had seen the outside world and had experienced freedom, while they were in the lab their entire lives. This leads to those Weeds always taking pride whenever they are pit up against Frisk in the arena, not only to kill the one they resent but to also be the one that kill the unkillable.

Frisk’s fighting style involved mostly avoiding attacks and countering whenever there is an opening. This makes other Weeds also want/hope to be the ones that are capable of leaving the first scar on the spotless human(this was reference in the chat Chara and Frisk had in chapter 3).

Frisk eventually meets Carli, as she and the head Flower came down to “congratulate” them on an entertaining and victorious match(to the victor goes the spoils). Carli asked to stay a while, and the two began to converse(Frisk with grey magic, writing out their sentences). They end up becoming good friends, and Frisk began to see a tad of light in their situation.

Frisk would then meet Two-Face, someone who was in the arena for a long time. They met through Frisk being moved to a different cell, that just so happen to be in front of Two-Face’s. At first, Frisk wanted nothing to do with him, but after they had a dual battle together, Frisk began to enjoy him presence. They bond over their want to escape and be free in the outside world, hoping to one day escape together.

After some time, Frisk and Two-Face are pit up against each other, and knowing only one of them can live, Two-Face forces Frisk to kill him, by falsely lunging at them, to have them react in self defence. It is this event that triggers them to want to escape at all costs.

Frisk initiates their plan right after a match in the arena. It essentially involves them killing everyone in their path, to ensure that they can escape. Pristine record broken, Frisk is finally free, They spent roughly two years in the Garden, and are now ten years old, nearing eleven.

Time passes, and Frisk’s mind lingers on the idea that they are the Lorekeeper of Ebott. Fearing that their destiny is to never be able to hang onto any relationship, they decide to take their own life by climbing Mount Ebott, and jumping into the Underground. 

When they landed, Frisk realized they could manipulate their LOVE, and brought it back down to 1. A couple pointers to their adventure are; they are not phased by Flowey’s declaration of “kill or be killed”, their vow to never speak is broken and the begin to speak once again(this is at some point while they’re with Toriel), and they begin with a pacifist run in an attempt to kind of turn over a new leaf.

Stuff on them and Tares can be explored if you all want more detail on that. Just ask me.

Frisk RESETs after completing their Pacifist run, to attempt a Genocide run. They end up attempting to do one multiple times, having reset due to not wanting to kill someone, thus breaking the run. The reasons for failing the run are; having to kill Tares(despite her not knowing who they were yet), killing Toriel, killing Papyrus, and Monster KId trying to defend the rest of their kind(therefore being in Frisk’s requirement to kill them). Subsequent runs after killing Tares, Frisk would always keep a jar of her dust to bring with them.

Their first legit Genocide run is done under a LOVE-corrupted Chara. Absolutely zero mercy is given, no holds bar. After that, the corrupted Chara gets all they need, but after Frisk forcibly resets against Chara’s control, to commit another Genocide run. In this run, they don’t die very much at all.

Once completed, they commit another one after Chara asks them to try a different run. Chara doesn’t even have a chance to ask them if they will destroy the world, as Frisk’s acting completely soulless at this point(despite still having their soul). Frisk resets and in this final Genocide run, they do not die once, nor do they get hit once, kind of a call back to when they were Silence(“losing” their voice during this run as well).

In the final Gencide run, Frisk is immediately equipped with the Toxic DT blade(that was shown in chapter 3). It is permanently coiled around their left forearm, and is just as, if not more, powerful than the Real Knife. It is basically a culmination of all the LOVE collected throughout each Genocide run. It deploys similarly to Finn’s grass sword from Adventure Time.

Upon reaching the end, they just stare at Chara with blank eyes, and Chara kills them to force a reset(maybe i’ll write this one day). Frisk would at some point open up to Chara about why they did so many Genocide runs, and it was in hopes of feeling something again. To which, Chara killing them in the untouchable run, was them having finally felt something. This initiates their Final run. Proceeding to complete it, everyone is set free, and comes the beginning of the fic. 

A small little thing on Frisk’s status as Lorekeeper. Their destiny was to empty the Underground, hence why all of their resets would bring them back to the beginning of the Underground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now it's time for the Dreemurr siblings. Chara first!


	9. Future plans: Chara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to ask questions if ya have any

Full name: Character Brandt

Brandt being a German surname meaning burn, in reference to Chara’s fire magic.

Chara’s story starts when they are born in Germany. They had a very close relationship with their father, while their mother was a lot more distant(tended to cope with difficulties with alcohol). Due to issues revolving around their respiratory in their hometown, the family(mostly their father) decide to move to Ebott, as the area is lush, and has much cleaner air.

Chara’s breathing increases in quality, but their life does not. Their father does everything he can to comfort them and give them a good life, but the abuse from their mother does not lightened. I had not decided what exactly had happened, but one possibility was that their father was murdered by their mother, and Chara was able to escape, running all the way up Mount Ebott, and accidentally falling in.

They are found by Asriel, and are at first very reclusive, but eventually learn that these monsters are not here to hurt them, but to love them. They warm up to the Dreemurr family, and become the older sibling to Asriel. They are very protective of him, and are untrusting to others. Due to their abused history, they want to keep the people that they love safe, and feel as though the world is against them, but to some of the monsters who proved to not want to hurt them, they warmed up to them too.

They only ever open up to Asriel about their past life on the Surface, which leads the young Boss Monster to want to keep Chara safe at every chance he can get. Asgore brings Chara up as the future saviour of the Underground(the Underground’s hope) and Chara hopes to live up to those expectations.

Chara genuinely loves their adoptive family, so when they accidentally poison Asgore with they buttercups, they did laugh it off, but the laughter was more of them trying to mask their pain and guilt(tying in to the whole, laughter and jokes used as a coping mechanism in the Undertale universe). They keep in mind how poisonous those flowers were to have been able to bedridden their powerful Boss Monster father.

They bring up the idea of the buttercup plan to Asriel before they’re both about to go to bed, and their brother tries to switch the recipient of the buttercups, but Chara refuses. The human child reiterates that they will be willing to pay the ultimate price to save the monster kind, stating as well that this way, they would be together forever.

The two initiate the plan, and Chara falls ill. Asriel struggles to keep his mouth shut about why Chara fell ill, but keeps it to himself to ensure that their plan goes well. Those agonizing days rip Chara apart but, the glimmer of hope they have that the monsters will be free keeps their spirit up.

Chara eventually passes, and Asriel absorbs their soul. Upon reaching the Surface, they are attacked by humans, and Chara begs Asriel to fight back, fearing that if they do not, Asriel will die. Asriel protests, telling them that he has this. He turns back, with their body in his arms, and dies on the flowerbed. Chara’s spirit remains dormant until Frisk falls onto their grave. They attach to Frisk due to the heightened amount of determination, and narrate throughout their journey. The two did not have many interaction throughout Frisk’s first Pacifist run, but a couple of Chara’s memories invade Frisk’s mind.

The two do not begin to converse until Frisk resets their Genocide run after refusing to kill Papyrus. The continuous increasing and decreasing LOVE, causes Chara to become corrupted and hang on to all of the LOVE Frisk collected during each failed/aborted Genocide run. A LOVE-corrupted Chara, frustrated with Frisk’s constant resetting and aborting, takes full control of Frisk, and completes the Genocide run. They struggled with battling Undyne and Sans, having the most issue with the skeleton brother.

Upon completion, Chara leaves Frisk’s body, allowing control over it once again, but Frisk then gravitates towards the reset, and presses it, catching Chara off guard(and stopping them from saying their cool speech and chance to erase the world). Chara’s corruption disappears after the reset. They watche with confusion and concern as Frisk begins to commit another Genocide run, having zero commitment in this one. 

When confronting Frisk in the abyss, Chara is more or less confused at the second completion of the Genocide run, due to Frisk’s initial refusal to do so. Chara recommends that the other try a different run, but Frisk(quite literally) shrugs them off, and resets. Come the final Genocide run, and Chara is met with a. Internally dead Frisk in the abyss. They question why Frisk is doing this, stating how much it hurt them to see Frisk, a previously kindhearted and compassionate human, be reduced to this senseless killer.

Upon not getting a response, Chara kills them with the Real Knife, as Frisk never picked up any items this run. Chara reaches for the reset, whispering to Frisk that they should try to be nice this time.

Chara aids a tearful and broken Frisk through the final run, and more directly interacts with them throughout this run. Forgot to mention in the Frisk bio(it was already long as is), that the two began to develop romantic feelings for each other during this run, especially since they had more interaction.

When they reach New Home and Frisk picks up the Golden Locket, Chara feels their chest tighten, seeing their most prized possession still in pristine condition. Even though they had seen it multiple times through Frisk’s eyes, it does not quell their emotional attachment and tearful nostalgia for it.

During the battle with Asriel, Frisk calls out to Chara, and the two siblings rejoice in one of their happiest memories, Frisk allowing Chara to take over their body one last time.

With their revival through Frisk giving them half of their soul, Chara is able to return to their family, and reform and form new and old relationships. Chara and Sans end up having a very strong friendship as, similar to Frisk, he acts as a sort of secondary father/uncle(duncle) figure to the kids. The three of them frequent Grillby’s together.

With Asriel’s revival, the two of them rekindle their relationship, and they, along with Frisk and MK, become the best of friends. Chara ensures Asriel that with their second chance at life, they will spend as much of their time together repairing the relationship between humans and monsters, alongside the friends.

Fact on Chara. If you noticed, they rarely speak with contraction. I had put this in a part of their character as the idea that they were conditioned to speak politely at a young age, as well as it partly being something they picked up from Toriel.

Another thing is how theirs, and Frisk’s age works. Frisk was physically ten(nearing eleven) when they fell into the Underground. I never did decide an age for Chara before they died, but it is about the same. The time for each reset Frisk did adds up to about five years. In short, because they share a soul, they age physically together, and are mentally five years older than they are physically. Hence why in chapter 4, they are discussing their age(seventeen mentally, physically twelve).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asriel is next. might merge his with MK


	10. Future plans: Asriel + MK

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to put these two together as they kinda interweave

Any questions on Asriel’s life with Chara, feel free to ask. I feel like i’d be repeating myself. Also, not much on Flowey, as I didn’t fully develop things on him. Flowey wasn’t going to be a huge part of the fic.

Upon becoming Flowey, he is desperate to feel something, so similar to Frisk, committed a Genocide run, but was stumped at Sans constantly killing him. He dissolves down to terrorizing the human children that fell after Chara.

With Frisk’s fall, he realizes they can reset too, but doesn’t form any kind of relation with them since they’re closed off, and didn’t like his initial interaction with them. Flowey is then confused about why Frisk’s decided to spare him after the Omega/Photoshop fight, despite everything he had done to them. He is however, completely petrified of the human when they beginning their multiple completed Genocide runs.

During the final battle, Asriel tries his hardest not to crack under the hopeful nostalgia in his heart, but cannot bring himself to kill Frisk(also kind of Frisk refusing to die). 

Flowey is taken with Frisk and the others in a flower pot when they all leave for the Surface. He sits on the windowsill, and hangs onto the Golden Locket as he was Asriel for a while. He is at some point brought to Alphys’ lab, and revived into Asriel, fully being able to feel again.

He has a tearful reunion with Chara and his family, fully wanting to live out his life once again. Asriel is formally introduced to the rest of the Undertale crew, and to Frisk and Chara’s human friends. He is then invited to train with Undyne and Papyrus(and to an extent, Sans), and excitedly accepts(learning to improve the abilities he retained from his Hypergod form, and traditional fire magic).

As the fic progresses and Asriel becomes closer on an emotional level with the main cast, he develops a crush on Frisk, somewhat(almost completely) oblivious to the blooming relationship between his crush and his sibling. 

One of his strongest friendships within the group is with MK. He goes to MK for advice and to vent about his crush on Frisk and wanting to confess, but his insecurity holding him back. MK always gives him advice that Asriel ends up taking each time, unaware of MK simply projecting.

In the epilogue(or near it), Asriel would confess to Frisk, only to be politely and somewhat lightly rejected. Asriel would have caught onto the idea that something was going on between Chara and Frisk, and accepts Frisk’s rejection well. Kind of just confessed to get it off his chest. 

He is understandably disappointed, but is happy to see both Frisk and Chara happy together. Asriel begins to question his strange feelings, having felt them when in both MK’s and Frisk’s presence, and he continues to develop his relationship with MK.

Him and MK edge the ‘b’ out of the bromance, with Asriel realizing his fuzzy feeling was coming from MK(more on MK’s side in their character segment). He realizes that all the advice MK was giving him, was what MK would’ve done if it was to him. Asriel and MK would become a romantic couple, forming many combat combos for both offence and defense.

Niche couple, but with the development I had planned, I enjoyed seeing/imagining them together. I know i say this every time, but I might write some oneshots of these two. Whether related to this fic or not.

Another small thing about Asriel is that when enraged, he can sort of tap into his old Omega/Photoshop Flowey form. It would be sort of like a fusion(arms become the Omega form’s arms, can summon thorned vines, to name a few examples), and the markings on his face would extend to his eyes. He can do this because of the way his soul was formed. It was formed by using an empty soul and injecting a small piece of determination from each of the seven human souls(Frisk’s included).

As for future adult/teen Asriel design, I was still debating on whether or not he would be blonde or not, but did know he would be a slimmer yet muscular build(not as bulky as his dad), and have a beard.

Monster Kid

As in the game, Monster Kid meets Frisk in Waterfall. They become quick friends, with MK gushing to Frisk and Tares about their admiration for Undyne(Tares feels like they have way too much energy, and don’t have enough time to burn it all). When arriving to aid Frisk against Flowey at the end of the True Pacifist run, they help them stand back up, and reassuringly wrap their tail around the human’s arm.

When they take up Papyrus as their new idol, they still very much do look up to Undyne, and begin to wear a red bandana around their neck during the events of the fic. MK utilizes fire magic at a very intense heat, giving it a unique blue colouration(not blue magic), and while training with Undyne and Papyrus, learn to control its temperature. Though they do default to blue flames.

When they were asked by Frisk if they wanted to come train with them, it was like a dream come true. MK got to get stronger, be coached by their two biggest idols, and do it with their best friends. They and Tares had very good synergy together during training sessions, being a strong combination of fire and water(Tares kinda manipulated her water spouts to resemble fire, so it would be confusing which was the fire from MK and which was water).

Their bio-family wasn’t something I had developed more so than it was just off-hand mentions of them. By no means was it a bad relationship, it was in fact quite wholesome. I just didn’t develop much on their family.

When Asriel was revived and introduced to the group, he partnered up with MK on a few occasions and the two of them, like Frisk and Chara before them, perform flaming barrages together(this doesn’t omit Tares and MK’s synergy and blue strat though). An attack they would frequently do is having Asriel throw them a sword and they would catch it in their mouth and use it that way(whether turning it into a fire sword or just use it).

As they continue to get to know Asriel as both as battle partners, and friends, MK begins to develop romantic feelings for the boss monster. They admired Asirel’s proficiency in fire magic, and how well he utilized it in combination with his Hypergod abilities. That admiration turned to romantic interest, upon seeing more of Asriel’s kindness and loyalty that he displayed to the ones he loves.

MK would one day go tell Chara about their crush, feeling as the sibling of their crush should be the first to know amongst the group. Chara took it lightly, having seen something develop, and offered to help in any way possible(venting, advice - that they weren’t very good at giving in this matter but they tried, - and other things). MK would vent to Chara on occasion, and Chara would offer advice in return, a lot of the time, these sessions would then shift to them unwinding by either playing music or video games(even with MK’s lack of arms).

Soon, Asriel began coming to MK for romance advice, and it broke MK’s heart to hear Asriel’s venting about his crush on Frisk. Despite that, MK gave advice to Asriel, hoping to see him happy, essentially telling him what they would’ve done if they were confessing to him(also kind of taking and innovating on Chara’s advice that they gave them). MK was caught in a strange scenario, where they knew Chara liked Frisk, and Frisk liked them back, but Asriel liked Frisk too, while MK liked Asriel. 

They had thought of bringing it up to Chara, but ultimately decided to keep it to themself, not wanting to make the situation any more awkward/strange than it had to be. MK continued to give advice to Asriel, with a small amount of hope that they’d one day be able to confess. All the romance for the entire gang would have to be put on the backburner, as the events of the Garden would occur. Setting aside their feelings, MK continues to work as Asriel’s close friend, and battle partner to help rescue Frisk and bring down the Garden for good. 

During the epilogue, MK saw Asriel walk off to confess to Frisk, and turned away to sit with Chara, hoping that Asriel wouldn’t be too crushed by a(lieky) potential rejection. Upon seeing that Asriel was rejected, and seemingly took it well, despite being upset, they nudged Chara to “go get ‘em”, with a reassuring smile’ now was a good and appropriate time.

Asriel sits beside MK, and they both watch the two humans form a closer relationship. MK would recognize they have a chance with Asriel, and the two continue to have great chemistry, both in battle and outside of it. As the party dies down, Asriel falls asleep, leaning on MK’s side, and as Frisk is leaving for a short walk, they flash a thumbs up at MK, giving them hope.

With the progression of time, MK awaits to see if romance is a possibility between them and Asriel, and begins to become hopeful as Asriel is showing signs of interest. Though, they are a little worried that they were reading too much into it. However, despite it all, a confession is made, and the two of them become a couple.

A small thing on MK, I had done some sketching of what they would look like in the future as an adult/teen, and a part of it involved them having a spike beard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions are welcome as always, and I do hope to write more on these two and the gang in general. Last thing to write on this fic: Team Delta


	11. Future plans: Team Delta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, and this the last piece. Genuinely one of my favorite things about this cast that I developed.

Team Delta would have been a team formed by Frisk, Tares, Chara, and Asriel. The goal was, as per the name “Delta”, to bring change to the world. They brought in MK, and the other two human friends, as a means of being the example for human-monster relationships. 

The team would help Frisk in their ambassador duties, the entirety of the team ultimately becoming ambassadors for the monsters. They follow a path of peace, and only ever resort to violence as a means of self-defence.

Frisk acts as the de facto leader of the team, but all decisions are either compromised or voted by the group. Kind of as a means to get everyone’s opinion and side heard. 

In battle, they are a formidable force. Each member had a specialty in a different element, and served different roles in the face of battle. Frisk, Tares, Chara and Asriel acted as the front line, the hyper offence of the team. MK and one of the human friends(most likely an earth magician) act as the mid attackers, not entirely support but not entirely offence. Then the last human friend(an air magician) acts as the backliner. The team relied a lot on teamwork as they had such good synergy, both from having battled/trained together for years, but also being great friends.

Frisk, Chara and Asriel were known as "Team Delta's Elite Triad". They discovered that with their heightened Determination, allowed them to be much more proficient with their magic. With vigorous training, they learn to harness it.

Frisk forms an attack where they form a large gust of wind, and send fireballs and green DT arrows(similar to Undyne's water spears but just made more of concentrated determination and magic. The colour is also more or less aesthetic). They would send it crashing towards an opponent, the wind forcing them down, and the arrows exploding on contact. Frisk can also control the strength of the wind, arrows, and explosion force.

Chara pulls large earth spikes out from the ground, and when making contact with a foe, will explode with their control(they can also choose to not have them explode and use them like large spears). The spikes tend to be formed glowing red, partly from Chara's proficiency with fire magic heating them up to move them, and the spikes themselves being hot(almost like magma) when they first come to be. 

Asriel forms blue orbs around him, and sends them to make explosive contact with the opponent. He learned from Undyne to have them be split up into groups, then have each group hyper fixate on a separate opponent(different foe for each group). He innovated on the attack by combining it with his fire magic(example, when punching streams of flames, add the blue orbs to surround them).

These attacks would be used together, to create an impenetrable wall of offense and/or defence and would be what Team Delta was known for(aside from their peacemaking and defending the innocent). All together(along with the other members of the team adding on their own attacks), their team offence was what allowed their peaceful and pacifist team remain a force to be reckoned with, and not complete pushovers at the face of conflict.

Despite the sheer power of those special attacks from the Elite Triad, they take a lot of energy, and therefore aren't used unless absolutely necessary. They are, however, easier to use during Clutch mode, as Frisk and/or Chara’s bodies/soul would be doing everything it could to keep them alive(defend against the threat that brought them that low, so use most powerful attack, either to scare off the threat, or overwhelm the threat).

This was honestly a concept I had always enjoyed developing, whether it was just hyjinx or the team legitimately doing what they set out to do(peacemaking). Since, when they aren’t doing ambassador things, they were just a group of friends. I had quite a few designs planned out for them, and if I end up writing more on these guys, I might end up drawing them too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, that's it. I'm putting this fic to rest for the time being. I loved writing it, and developing things for it. Not a single regret, other than the fact i wasn't able to see it through to the end. I'll be working on the bigger project for a bit longer, and maybe release a Charisk one shot here and there. Until then, I'll be seeing you all, in my next project. Thank you for reading, and for all the comments.

**Author's Note:**

> Frick. That was much longer than I expected it to be. Hope y'all enjoyed it and I'll see you when the next chapter begins and hope y'all enjoyed. More will be revealed in the future. See you then


End file.
